


Mass Effect: Uzumaki Guardian

by defiasstone2



Category: Mass Effect, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Harem, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 16:28:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 88,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3943654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defiasstone2/pseuds/defiasstone2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The cycle has happened many times before even the Protheans, one of those cycles spelling the end of the elemental nations and the usage of chakra, which was deemed too great a threat to the cycle for the Reapers to let survive. However, even the best attempts at genocide can fail and now on Eden Prime a man with a grudge awakens from a long sleep only to find himself in a very different place to where he had been sealed...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As he cut down another one of Orochimaru’s metal men that had been closing in on the cave that the others were hiding in with the chakra spear he had picked up from a battlefield and was now his favourite weapon, Naruto couldn’t help but wonder what had gone so wrong to lead to the situation they were in now. The devastated landscape around him had been beautiful woodland in the heart of the Land of Fire a year ago, before Orochimaru’s attack in the final of the Chuunin exams.

 

According to the few survivors in the area  after the initial attack the demented sannin had somehow not only gotten Suna to ally with him for the sneak attack against Konoha, but when it had become clear that the assault was failing, Orochimaru had flared his chakra to massive levels, leaving the undead Hokage to keep the Sandaime busy.

 

Initially when meteors began to rain from the sky and slam into Konoha’s buildings and streets it was assumed it was some kind of jutsu, though admittedly one on a massive scale, but that all changed when the first shinobi to investigate the landing sites were obliterated by beams of death. From within the meteors came men of metal, armed with deadly weapons that could spell death at hundreds of meters with the accuracy that most shinobi could not match.

 

The metal men were almost indiscriminate in their killing, Suna and Konoha ninja alike falling to their weapons. This was a turning point in the assault as the Suna Shinobi quickly called a truce with Konoha to deal with the metal men and their Oto ninja allies, but Naruto only learned this after returning to the city with a defeated and badly injured Gaara and Temari and carrying Sakura over his shoulder, having been attacked by the same metal men after defeating Shukaku.

 

If that had been all of them, that might have been the end of things and life would have returned to normal, but even as the Konoha ninja mourned their dead and tried to regroup after the battle, the skyships descended. Luckily the initial attack of the metal men meant that when the high ranking ninja saw the skyships descending and blackening the sky, they ordered an evacuation of Konoha rather than trying to stay and fight.

 

He and the other rookies had been lucky that day Naruto thought even as he jumped back into the shadows, they had been considered too injured/inexperienced to continue the fight during the evacuation and had instead been sent ahead to clear an evacuation route for the civilians to follow. So when the initial bombardment had wiped the centre of Konoha from the map in but a few moments, all they could do was watch in abject horror as their entire life was wiped from existence.

 

Neji, Lee and Shino had been amongst the many who hadn’t made it out of the massacre, the three of them having been being treated in the makeshift trauma centres when the attack had begun. In fact Naruto thought bitterly as he shushined back to the cave entrance, it was easier to remember those that were still alive at this point rather than those that had perished, given that he could count those in the group on two hands.

 

Waiting a moment at the entrance whilst the seals recognised his chakra, Naruto then stepped into the cave that would soon become their temporary tomb. Even as he saw the long mane of white hair that he instantly recognised, Naruto had to bite back the indignity he felt at Jiraiya's plan, his dark side and the Kyuubi screaming at him to take the fight to the metal men to make them pay for what they had done.

 

But the old sage had spoken the truth when he had argued against that kind of heroic final assault, the metal men’s numbers seemed innumerable and even bringing down some of their sky ships had no effect on their tactics, so instead Jiraiya wanted to use the shinobi tactic of deception.

 

The metal men seemed to be following their life signs and from what the few surviving Oto ninja had told them the metal men wouldn’t stop until everyone of the planet was gone. So with that in mind, Jiraiya had offered their current plan instead, and given the statuesque forms of his friends that now lay on the ground deep inside the cave itself, the old man was nearly done.

 

“Are you sure about this Ero-sennin? What if this doesn’t work? Or what if you can’t get back to us once the metal men leave?” These were all questions Naruto had asked before, in fact he had gone further several times when speaking to the toad sannin in private, what if the metal men didn’t leave? What if Jiraiya died before he could come and awaken them again?

 

“As I have said before gaki, the sealing will work, I doubt that the metal men will do a visual sweep seeing as they have those scanner things. And we have tested this against those scanners remember, so we will be fine. And I have to be the one to do this, unlike you I can supress my chakra enough that when I go to the toads they won’t be able to find me. Once they have gone I will return or send another survivor, given these bastards don’t bleed I think blood will be a good enough trigger to break the seals. Now, quickly before another patrol comes this way...”

 

Jiraiya gestured to the plinth of stone, covered in seals that were an integral part of the plan to disguise Naruto’s chakra and put him into stasis like the others. Unlike the others who had been put in stasis whilst lying down, making their forms look like they were sleeping, Naruto had insisted he stand up for his petrification as Jiraiya called it. As he took his place and Jiraiya began the handsigns to complete the sealing process, Naruto muttered the motto that he had picked up from Kakashi, who had gone down whilst on a rescue mission three months into the invasion.

  
“Better to die on your feet, protecting the innocent, than hiding like a worm in the trash...” The sensation of sleep quickly washed over him and Naruto adopted what he had decided would be his pose, stood feet shoulder width apart with the spear digging into the platform just off from his right foot, face set in what he hoped was a defiant look as he stared at the cave entrance before everything went black...

 

***

It was supposed to have been an easy assignment, that was the thought that went through Nirali Bhatia’s as she continued to stagger away from her pursuers, her left hand trying to cover the heavy wound to her stomach gained when one of those zombies jumped her.

 

Take a secondment on one of the newly colonised worlds, they paid corpsmen extra as there was a lack of skilled personnel willing to work so far out on the frontier, earn enough for an early retirement back to Earth with Samesh. A simple plan that she had felt was perfect, despite Samesh’s worries about her being stationed on the edge of the Terminus and the threat of pirates and batarian slavers.

 

Given the Geth attack and what they had done to the poor colonists whose corpses were now chasing her, Nirali would take pirates any day. Up ahead was the strange statue of a boy armed with a spear, it had been there when she arrived three months ago and when she asked around Nirali had found that the statue had actually been found in the initial Prothean ruins, before they had excavated out the strange artifact all the scientists had been going crazy over.

 

Even as she stumbled into it as the bloodloss played havoc with her balance, Nirali felt there should have been more interest in why the Protheans had a human statue, especially when 50,000 years ago humans would not have been evolved enough for the clothes and weapons the statue had with it. But as she stumbled round the statue before falling to the ground, Nirali realised that wasn’t going to be a question she got an answer to in this lifetime, drawing her pistol with her free hand as the sounds of the zombies came closer and closer.

 

“I’m sorry Samesh, so sorry...” Her whisper was almost drowned out by the approaching zombies, her focus on the approaching enemies meaning that she missed the small crack of the statue’s outer shell breaking slightly where her bloody handprint rested...

 

**A/N: So, a Naruto/Mass Effect crossover, I certainly cannot claim to be the first but I am hoping my version is original enough for it to gather your interest dear reader. Couple of key points that I think I need to clarify at this stage:**

**Firstly yes some of Naruto’s comrades and friends were sealed when Naruto was sealed into stasis as well, but they will not feature in ME 1, you will find out more if I turn this into more than a 1 shot.**

**Secondly, Naruto will be powerful in this, he’s faster, stronger and much more durable than a normal human, but he is not faster than bullets, a rocket will put him down for some time and he will not be taking out reapers by himself. His use of chakra and shadow clones will make him a great asset to Shepard’s team but he will not be so powerful as to make the rest of the team useless.**

**  
Thirdly, this will be a harem story, FemShep and Tali are in but I am otherwise open to suggestions from the ME universe, though please give a reason beyond ‘they would be cute together’. Remember this is Chuunin exams Naruto with a years guerilla warfare experience tagged on, so nothing about sage powers or anything like that when using them as reasons for a pairing. **

**Lastly, the two protagonists for this story are based off (but not exclusively linked to) two of my current works, The Deception Gone Awry and Medic Effect respectively, with the obvious gender change for my Shepard. So if you haven't read those fics, I apologise if things seem a little odd but I don't want to flog the same horse twice as it were.**


	2. One hell of a way to wake up

It was like waking too early from a much needed sleep, his senses dulled even as his rocky confines began to flex and crack around him. Naruto was aware enough to be cautious however, sending a pulse of chakra out just in case it had been a sound nin or some other hostile that had managed to activate the release seals. He was glad he had as he instantly sensed several things that made him wonder quite how long he had been asleep, one in particular that turned his slowly waking mind to anger.

 

With a flex of his muscles his former prison was shattered outwards, Kushina (what he had called his spear in honour of his mother) singing with his chakra as he moved with practiced ease to combat the foes that he had sensed in front of him. Now he could see them rather than just feel their presence, Naruto was disgusted by the appearance of the experiments in front of him, obviously another experiment unleashed by Orochimaru upon the survivors of the elemental nations, if he hadn’t believed in zombies before he definitely did now.

 

For all the horror these things no doubt inspired due to their gruesome appearance, they were slow, ponderous and had less chakra than the average civilian. So Naruto was caught slightly off guard when his spear stabbed straight into the first experiments skull with sickening ease, the fact that the former human hadn’t even tried to dodge or block was off putting for someone used to fighting ninja.

 

Even as the other husks, he refused to call them zombies anymore as that was making them sound more dangerous than they are, turned from their pursuit to face this new foe he was amongst them. Sharpened by his chakra, Kushina decapitated another one whilst a chakra reinforced fist punched straight through the thirds chest, causing it to collapse like a sack of potatoes as Naruto spun away from the remaining two husk’s grasping hands.

 

There was a loud sound like a whip crack and one of the husks staggered forwards, two more retorts before it’s head exploded without warning, though Naruto could tell the attack had come from the human survivor he had sensed was being chased by these things when he had awakened. But he could worry about that later, the last husk suddenly beginning to glow with lightning like some of the metal men had after the invasion.

 

Given that such a build up of power was almost universally a bad thing, Naruto was not going to let the thing finish whatever it was preparing, but at the same time the husk was too close to the only normal human he had been able to sense around him. Judging by her injuries the woman wouldn't be able to avoid the technique and Naruto needed information as there was no way he was in Konoha anymore...

 

*Line Break*

 

Nirali didn't know where the boy had come from, but as he tore through the zombies that had been about to kill her she was very grateful for his arrival. In an attempt to aid him, not that she thought he needed it considering how quickly he killed the first two zombies, Nirali aimed her pistol and with three shots she managed to take down one of the others, leaving the one closest to her alive as her pistol clicked that it was overheated.

 

The nimbus of energy that appeared around the last zombie worried her even if it was facing the boy, she had seen the attack earlier when several of the monstrosities got amongst the unit she had been attached to and given the damage to her suit meant that her shield was down, there was no way she was getting out of another attack well. She shook her pistol in the hope the thing would magically cool, taking her eyes off the zombie for a moment to focus on the pistol, only for the things screech to cut off in a grunt that sounded remarkably human like.

 

Looking up she caught sight of the boy with his spear blade cutting straight through the things chest parallel to the ground, before with a yell of exertion he lifted the thing with his spear in a full toss over his shoulder, the resulting momentum that came with the motion causing the zombie to detach from the spear with a metallic scraping sound, it’s body flying well over a dozen metres before slamming into a wall and discharging it’s attack harmlessly.

 

Even as the dust settled Nirali suddenly found herself forcefully hoisted into an upright position, the boy now looking at her with an angry expression before he started speaking rapidly in a language that she didn’t recognise. Thankfully her universal translator did a moment later as suddenly his sounds became words, though that didn’t necessarily put her in any better shape given that she had no way of replying that wouldn’t look like a threat to the obviously dangerous boy.

 

“Where are the others! What are these new monsters? Did Jiraiya send you?” Struggling for breath as his hand at her injured shoulder was causing a lot of pain, Nirali did her best to sound non-threatening or aggressive as she replied, praying the boy knew English.

 

“Please, I don’t know anymore than you. If you would calm down I can try and help you.” The blank look on his face made it clear that the boy didn’t understand her, but to her surprise his grip softened and he seemed to give it some thought for a moment before nodding to himself and forming a strange sign. Suddenly there was a massive plume of smoke and before Nirali’s eyes the boy multiplied, there were at least twenty of him all armed with that strange spear, most of them running off in various directions through the city’s outskirts, one of them moving to the remains of the zombies whilst the closest one to her turned back to her.

 

“Now, it seems that you either cannot or will not speak in my tongue, so whether or not you are with Orochimaru or not will have to be determined otherwise...” The boy’s tone made it clear if he did not believe her then the consequences would not be good for her, and given what she had seen of him in combat and those copies of himself it would also not be good for any other Alliance forces in the area still alive.

 

So, praying that the boy would understand, Nirali started speaking whilst using her good hand to mime what the words slowly in the hope that the boy would not think she was activating some tech. Judging by the way he stiffened and raised his spear at the movement she didn’t have much confidence...

*Line Break*

 

Jane Shepard knew this mission could be going better, they were already a man down and Nihilus had dropped off the comms, idiot Spectre assuming they were all-mighty unkillable machines as per usual. If that weren’t enough, when they reached the dig site where the Prothean Beacon was meant to being held the thing had been moved and the place was swarming with Geth who were doing their best to slaughter each and every human in their path, combatant or otherwise.

 

Luckily they had managed to save some people, Shepard’s medic skills proving their use once again as she treated those she could of the survivors at the research camp, the smattering of scientists and technicians bringing hope to Kaidan and the marine they had managed to save. Ashley Williams had impressed her thus far, the girl barely into her twenties and more skilled with weapons than most of the marines aboard the Normandy.

 

Nothing on an N7 operative of course Jane thought a little smugly as she warp lanced another Geth trooper that had been hiding in the upper section of one of the storage units by the docking bays, dropping a husk that had been trying to rush her with a shotgun blast at the same time.

 

“Commander, I think you need to see this, it’s Nihilus.” Ashley’s call as the three of them began their sweep of the area made Jane groan, that kind of request never had a happy ending to it...

 

*Line Break*

 

After finding Nihilus’ body and marking the area for pick up and further investigation after the mission was over, a dead Spectre and accusations that it was another Turian Nihilus knew was the sort of thing she would get screwed with by the brass if she didn’t, Jane had kept them moving towards the spaceport as fast as they could manage.

 

Initially when the Geth had been made aware of their presence, probably during the encounter in which they had saved Williams and some survivors that the Geth had been about to sacrifice on giant metal spikes, they had come in their droves. Jane had been forced to stop just out set up a killzone as the Normandy told her of the attackers it had detected on it’s scanners, planting explosive traps and enlisting a few of the surviving militia they had saved in preparation.

  
Even with the foreknowledge and preparations they had barely been able to hold the line, three more dead militiamen on her hands she thought bitterly. But now they were merely encountering outposts of Geth in easily manageable numbers, so either the bastards had been forced to withdraw with their larger ship or something else was grabbing their attention.

 

As much as the hero inside her worried about the deaths that were probably occurring due to this distraction, Jane knew there was little she could do about it without the risk of being overwhelmed herself, which both would fail the mission and probably mean the colonists deaths regardless.

 

The Geth plan of destroying the spaceport with their bombs was an obvious attempt at asset denial as well as disguising the true purpose behind the attack, thankfully Kaidan was skilled enough with explosives to disarm the damn things whilst she and Ashley kept the slowly growing horde of Geth back.

 

They were going to struggle to make it though, with two bombs left to diffuse and both behind the Geth strong points they would need to do something risky in order to break through, and despite what some said about her brash and impulsive nature Shepard was not big on unnecessary risks. Still, desperate times meant she ordered Ashley and Kaidan to cover her as she prepared to try a close quarters assault, hopefully she would be able to break up the Geth defences enough to leave them open to the other two.

 

Her imagined heroic charge didn’t quite go to plan, her shields failing before she had covered even half the distance and she was forced to roll behind some Plas-steel crates, Geth fire now from three sides meaning she was truly pinned. The keening screech of Husk’s made her bad situation even worse, the former humans would either overwhelm her if she stayed in cover or expose her to the deadly fire from the other defenders if she tried to kite them.

 

She heard them getting closer and closer, readying her shotgun as she prepared to shift out and nail the first couple of them, only to get a call from Kaidan through the team comm system.

 

“Commander, behind you!” The call made her whirl round just in time to see a dark brown clothed figure blur past her, a spear of all things in hand as he slammed into the husks that had been about to attack her. Shepard also noted at the same moment that the fire from the Geth was slowly dropping off and decided to risk taking a look at the situation.

 

Looking out from her cover Shepard was shocked to see more of the same figure engaged with the Geth troopers, moving between them with a speed that she doubted any normal human could manage. His technique with the spear was horrible, the tactical part of her mind noted as one of his swings overbalanced one of the figures, leaving it open to a blast from one of the surviving Geth.

 

The look of pain on the boy’s face had her rushing forwards towards him, warp lance splitting the offending Geth in two as she tried to work out what treatment she would need to give him, but then to her shock the boy disappeared in a burst of smoke, the remaining figures not even breaking their strides as they continued to decimate the remaining Geth.

 

Reservations about this strange new type of biotics aside, Jane couldn’t deny she was grateful for the assistance, even if she still didn’t trust their newest ally. The cerberus sleeper agent amongst her N7 squad who had killed two of her comrades when he had been outed as a traitor was a definite factor in her distrust, but given the situation she didn’t really have much choice.

 

As she signalled for Kaidan to make a move towards the bombs as the last Geth was punctured straight through it’s eyestalk, Jane decided that she needed to at least try and talk with their mystery figure, the only one remaining after the others disappeared in similar puffs of smoke to the one she had seen shot. Shotgun still at the ready just in case, Jane stopped about 10 m from him as he seemed to be talking in his ear, probably a communicator.

 

When he turned to face her, Jane was truly surprised at how young their saviour actually looked now he was standing still. At best he was in his late teens, only just taller than her with a open face that had some strange whisker type tattoo’s upon them, shaggy neck length blonde hair shifting slightly in Eden Prime’s wind. Despite this there was a definite air of danger about him, even ignoring the fact she had just seen him destroy a dozen Geth and at least as many husks, so she hefted her shotgun defensively just in case.

 

“I am Commander Jane Shepard of the Alliance Navy, who are you and are you going to be a problem?” Probably not the most diplomatic way to have put it, but given the Geth were after the beacon it wouldn’t be a big jump to assume other unsavoury organisations were after it as well, given his skills he might well be another attempt to create a human supersoldier.

 

The blonde seemed offended by her questions and gestured around in a very obvious ‘really’? Then he began speaking in Japanese, her universal translator taking a moment to bring up the language conversion but it was barely noticeable.

 

“Whoa crazy lady don’t point that at me, I just saved your ungrateful ass if you didn’t notice. Here I am trying to do something nice...” He seemed to take a moment and his expression calmed, a smile crossing onto his face even as Jane glared at him for calling her crazy.

 

“I am Uzumaki Naruto and I won’t even bother trying to tell you where I am from as that didn’t work at all with the last woman, lets just say I am not affiliated with anyone or anything that you might be thinking of. As interested as you no doubt are in me, perhaps we should focus on getting rid of the rest of these metal men before you carry on with your terrible attempt to try and interrogate me.”

 

The haughty and slightly mischievous tone in this newly introduced Naruto’s voice was obviously meant to get on her nerves and put her on the back foot, but he had a point about the Geth and given his point about just leaving them to be overwhelmed she would have to trust him for now. She would get him back for his comments later and oddly, she found herself rather looking forward to it...

 

**A/N: So, probably not what people were expecting to a certain extent, definitely it was darker than what I originally envisioned when I started writing it but I think it certainly fits better than the ‘white knight’ Naruto that usually appears in these kind of crossovers.**

**He is awakened in what he thinks is a foreign land, surrounded by enemies and humans that can’t speak his language, his few remaining friends in their stasis slabs have disappeared and Jiraiya is nowhere in sight.**

**Of course, this means that he will react more hostilely towards people he doesn’t know and this should slowly become less and less prevalent in the coming chapters, at least towards Jane and the Normandy’s crew.**

**One of the major changes people will note is that there are more bad guys than there were in ME, which is something that needed to be addressed given that we are talking a Geth army that at the end of ME is capable of taking on the Citadel Defence Fleet quite handily and we then find in ME 2 that wasn’t even most of the Geth.**

**Not only does this make Naruto’s addition to the team less of a game changer, but it also means there will be a change in tactics on the missions, with a lot more focus on defensive fighting as the teams wear down the Geth attackers.**

**What do we think of this Jane Shepard? She will be my attempt to create a ‘middle of the line’ Shepard character, which in my opinion should give just as many benefits as either Renegade or Paragon in the game. That’s the plan anyways, lets see how it all turns out!**

**Lastly, I need a beta reader for this, not only to check my work for errors but also to act as the first line of defence against me going too crazy with my ideas. Not in a help me write it way but more a sort of ‘really?’ sense check. Let me know if anyone is interested.**

 


	3. To the Citadel!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Now, I don’t usually put these at the start but there are a couple of things I just want to clarify with people before we get into the chapter properly. Three reviewers have pointed out to me a giant plot hole that I had somehow missed entirely when I wrote this story, the fact that Naruto would still be a teenager at best at the time of the chuunin exams. 
> 
> This of course would make the harem a bit of an issue and therefore I have had to ‘bend’ the graduation age of the Naruto universe a little bit. In my AU, during non wartime the children attend a civilian academy till the age of 10 and then attend the ninja academy for 3 years. With Naruto failing twice that would put him at almost 17 now, so sorry if this is a little disappointing for people by diverging from canon I apologise but not a lot more I can do about it.
> 
> Secondly to avoid any other confusion, Nirali has given Naruto a translator which is what she was going to mime to him at the end of her PoV, so that is how he is now able to understand Jane and the others.
> 
> Thats all for now, hope you enjoy.

Shepard’s first thoughts as she awoke were of pain, every part of her body ached like she had just finished three days of PT followed by trying to keep up with a Krogan in a drinking contest. Given that level of discomfort, it took her a few moments to remember what had lead up to her being in this sorry state.

 

With the bombs dealt with, they had moved through into the space port in time to encounter another wave of Geth soldiers. Obviously the Geth knew their attempt to flatten the spaceport and the beacon with it had failed and therefore were attempting to deal with the intruders physically.

 

Jane had to give it to Naruto. Even if the boy didn’t have the slightest idea what these ‘metal men’ were or how they worked, he was very skilled at taking them apart using strange knives and his spear when he managed to get in close with them. His clones, as Naruto called them, were also very useful as distractions and decoys, moving ahead of the main group to scout for traps and ambushes.

 

The fact that they were somehow relaying info back to him given his precognitive awareness of their enemies movements was a further boon and something that Jane was going to ask him about after they secured the beacon, but given the general evasiveness and hostility that Naruto showed whenever she or one of the others got anywhere near him it had not really seemed like the right time.

 

That thought brought the last few minutes of her memories back with sharp clarity. As she heard the sound of raised voices, a combination of the two caused her to awaken entirely, eyes snapping open as she scanned the room quickly before she moved.

 

The view of overhead medical instruments, as well as the chemical smell made it clear that she was in the med-bay. Now she was fully cognisant Jane could hear 2 voices raised in argument, both familiar to her and arguing about her from the sounds of it.

 

"As I've told you previously, the med bay is for authorised personnel only, it's bad enough that I had to post two guards on the door after we initially removed you from here. But according to Dr Chakwas you were back in here in minutes with no one outside any the wiser and as captain of this ship such a security breach cannot be ignored..." The rather resigned tone of Captain Anderson reminded her of when they had first worked together whilst she was still in the N7, it was nice to hear it being directed at someone other than herself for once.

 

"I don't care if you're the Lord of the fricking universe you bastard, it's bad enough you dragged me away from wherever we were,  through space and to see this Council that I have never heard of. You still haven’t explained to me where I was when I woke up, how I got there or what the metal men were doing, even if I believe you when you say that my friends weren’t there when I was found. Shepard-leader’s ( **Translation of ‘taichou’ which is about as respectful as I can see Naruto being. Will stick with the Japanese from now on I think.** ) actions mean we are honour bound and I will not leave her side unless she tells me to."

 

Though the first burst had been rather fiercely stated, by the end of his outburst Naruto sounded a lot more serious and calm, the connotations of what he said really hitting home with Jane as she composed herself before sitting up and speaking.

 

"I don't know if pushing you away from the beacon after you rescued Ashley means you are whatever this honour bound means Naruto, it is not as if you can say I saved your life or anything." Now she was sat up Jane could see the two men stood at the end of the bed, Naruto's face lighting up a little as he turned to face her with a hint of a smile that seemed far more at home there than the frowns and blank looks he adorned during the mission.

 

"Shepard-leader, you are awake!" Then as what she said sunk in Naruto shook his head but the smile didn't fade. "And of course it counts, after all as far as we were concerned that energy from the beacon could have killed whoever it came into contact with and you still saved me whilst risking yourself. If we only agreed someone saved our life by them dying for us it would be a lot harder to pay them back. Kami only knows I have enough of them to pay back that I cannot physically do, so I'm afraid you are stuck with me captain."

 

Despite his apology Naruto didn’t look even slightly sorry as a cough from Anderson brought both of their attention back to the captain as he did his best to remain professional despite obviously being pleased Jane had awoken.

 

“Despite whatever debt you feel you need to pay the Commander, Alliance Regulations do not allow for children to ser...” That was as far as he got before Naruto cut him off, the boy looking seriously angry for the first time since Jane had met him.

 

“I am not a child dattebayo! Just because I haven’t had my growth spurt yet... I am 16 and a half and I have been a ninja for almost 7 years, which means I probably have more fighting experience than most of your crew.” **(A/N: Before people explode at this number, it includes the time that Naruto spent at the academy, including the two years he failed before passing on the third time. This isn't actual combat experience, but Naruto isn't going to tell them that.)** Ninja? Given his clothing and fighting style Jane doubted that he was a ninja by their definition, though it could be a designation given to him by whoever it was that trained him to be the child soldier he obviously was.

 

“And besides, if what I have read up on these Spectre things is true, then Jane might become one and become separate from the Alliance anyway.” Suddenly Naruto’s defiant tone faded a bit and he looked almost wistful as he spoke the next sentence.

 

“Also, from what Nirali-chan has told me I am technically way older than any of you, so I think I don’t need you trying to order me around!” That comment caused Jane to raise an eyebrow in confusion, what was Naruto talking about? Anderson obviously saw her look and seemed to come to a decision, gesturing to one of the marines who seemed to be there solely to keep an eye on Naruto if their focused gaze was anything to go by.

 

“Go and get Serviceman Bhatia soldier, I think the commander will need to hear both sides of this tale first hand.” As the marine saluted and turned to go out of the door Anderson turned back to Jane with a serious look on his face. “You have been unconscious for two days Shepard and in that time I have had the pleasure of doing my best to get some information out of this one, just as he has been determined to spend that time either browsing the extranet for all the information he can or doing his best to avoid me where he can.”

 

Naruto pulled a rather impolite face at this rather pointed comment and Jane found herself smiling almost despite herself even as her headache continued to throb rather incessantly. Anderson either didn’t see the face or was ignoring it as he continued.

 

“Despite my reservations about his validity, if what Mr Uzumaki claims is true then his survival on Eden Prime is even more important to the council than the beacon, not that this will mean they won’t try and pin it’s destruction on you of course. But we will get to that particular bombshell in a minute, I think it is best if we discuss what happened with the beacon Shepard, what do you remember?”

 

Despite her urge to know what the hell Anderson was talking about regarding Naruto, Shepard knew an implied order when she heard one, so she did her best to remember the last minutes of Eden Prime and more importantly the vision that she had gotten through the beacon. Whilst Anderson looked mildly worried by what she was telling him, Naruto looked really excited.

 

“That sounds like what happened on my world, perhaps the beacon is like Ino-chan having put a memory in it or something.” Somehow Jane doubted it, the thoughts felt almost entirely alien to her. Then her mind caught up with her and she looked at Naruto in what she hoped was a serious questioning face rather than the more unprofessional confusion she was feeling, she had a strange suspicion where this conversation was going.

 

“No I don’t think so Naruto, and why would one of your friend’s memories be inside the beacon? Unless this is some kind of hallucination?” Anderson shook his head at her obvious askance, a knock at the medbay door indicating the arrival of this Bhatia who would hopefully break whatever prank these two were trying to pull on her. Indicating to the marine to open the door for a woman probably in her late thirties early forties, Anderson had gained some of his usual good humour back.

 

“That is what I thought at first as well Commander, but given what Mr Uzumaki can do as well as what Serviceman Bhatia has told us... I suppose I should let you tell her Serviceman...”  Given the nervous look on the woman’s face as she began her tale, her body language indicating she was expecting some kind of negative reaction to her words, Shepard knew that weird visions of destruction and mayhem on a massive scale might not actually be the weirdest thing she was going to have to deal with today.

 

*Line Break*

 

The remaining time until they reached the Citadel had been interesting for the crew of the Normandy, given the large number of blonde haired clones that had been swarming every deck of the ship investigating, questioning and generally making a nuisance of himself as he did his best to learn more about the universe he had come to exist in.

 

Even the Naruto who had been in the med-bay when she had awoken turned out to be a clone, poofing away as Anderson had tried to have the marines escort him from the room.

 

Despite this rather sudden increase in activity aboard Jane had found herself relatively undisturbed as she did her best to carry out an investigation on the body of Nihilus in the cargo area of the Normandy. Whilst she would have preferred to carry out the investigation in situ that was beyond her control now so she would do her best with what she had.

 

Whilst Naruto being perched on top of the Mako watching had been slightly irritating at first, when she had been trying to reconstruct the crime scene that irritation turned to awe as Naruto not only offered to help but spawned several more clones that would take up the positions of the geth corpses in the nearby area, before they became corpses of course.

 

Two of them were ruled out from the after action reports as Geth Ashley had taken down before finding Nihilus, but that still left four Geth that had been killed presumably by Nihilus. As she looked around at their positions, Jane came to the same conclusion she had come to when she had originally looked over Nihilus’ body in the Med-bay, speaking out loud to provide insight to Naruto in case he hadn’t gotten the same hunch.

 

“These Geth didn’t kill Nihilus, that much is clear.” To her surprise there was no question or agreement from Naruto and when she turned to face him she found herself looking at Nihilus, fully dressed in his battle gear and reading from the datapad that held most of the evidence reports from the ground.

 

If she didn’t already know of Naruto’s shape changing abilities Jane would have been a lot more on edge, something that obviously upset the ‘henged’ ninja as his smirk faded and he spoke up, his voice sounding more than a little weird coming from Nihilus’ jaws.

  
“I thought that perhaps if we worked out Nihilus’ movements we could work out what happened taichou, but what makes you certain that this wasn’t a Geth? I can’t imagine a colonist having either the ability or the motive to off a Spectre who is alert and in the middle of a warzone...”

 

And that was the rub that she would have to solve before they reached the Council, with the witness reports of another Turian and Anderson’s claim that this Saren was another Spectre, Jane was going to have to be impeccable in her report otherwise she or even Naruto might well end up taking the stick for the incident. That was if this wasn’t a giant Council Black ops operation to destabilise human interests of course, if that was the case they were all screwed.

 

“Nihilus was shot with a mass effect round at nearly point blank range from behind, which matches up with the witness account, no it’s in this section, you were on the photo evidence.” Breaking from her rather pessimistic train of thought to help Naruto as he struggled to find the witness statement of the dock worker she was talking about Jane was glad that whilst the young man, as she didn’t want to call him boy anymore after his rather aggressive reaction to Anderson doing the same thing, was definitely more powerful than her in hand to hand combat and very dangerous given his clones, was an absolute rookie when it came to technology in any form.

 

Even the automatic doors had supposedly spooked him at first when they had brought her back aboard the Normandy, and his lack of technical aptitude wouldn't be disappearing for a while it seems.

 

Given the stories he had told her in their breaks from the investigation of what some of the other ninja from his world had been able to do and had done from the little history of the elemental nations he was able to remember, Jane was glad that Naruto for all his penchant of irritating Anderson to the point of an aneurysm was understanding enough or trusting enough to not go postal on them for the loss of his friends.

 

If someone like Naruto had thought they had been involved with their removal, Eden Prime would probably be little more than a lifeless hole in the ground now.

 

Not a positive train of thought, but as she saw Naruto fist pump in celebration as he managed to singlehandedly move from the witness report to the scans that had been taken of the area’s surfaces, Jane could see that despite the large amounts of emotional pain that Naruto was in, his spirit wouldn’t allow him to wallow force his anger onto others if they didn't deserve it, bearing the emotional burden instead like a badge of pride on show for the whole world to see.

 

*line break*

 

Stepping out off the docking Bay Area with Ashley and Naruto in tow, Naruto now dressed in heavy armour that had been modified for his size though his still kept his jacket and spear to complete the look, Shepard was surprised to find a pair of heavily armed C-sec officers waiting for them, the Turian of the pair speaking up in what he obviously thought was an official tone.

 

"Commander, I have orders to take that thing into custody." He nodded his head at Naruto, either not noticing or not caring about how Naruto stiffened at his term of address, hand twitching towards the spear at his belt.

 

Trying to defuse the situation before the officer carried on and made Naruto do something he would regret, as well as finding out what was going on, Shepard stepped between them,.

 

"On what grounds do you want to take him in, I know that he can't have done anything to warrant..." She paused as the other C-Sec officer, a rather nervous looking Salarian, held up a data pad with official looking writing on it.

 

"Directly from the council, given what has been claimed by the... Subject, it has been decided that further questioning needs to take place in order to validate your claims." If something about the situation hadn't smelled fishy before it sure as hell did now, the Council were to see them in a few hours anyway, why would they want Naruto taken in by C-Sec?

 

And more importantly, why would the Council let anyone know about Naruto since the communication from Udina had been that the whole thing was to be a secret until the Alliance and the Council claimed otherwise.

 

She was about to state as such when help came from an unexpected source, Ambassador Udina himself coming through the doors behind them with his escort. Whether he had been able to hear the conversation through the door or one of the others had patched him into the comma Jane didn't know, but it was definitely the first time that she had been glad to see the politician in person.

 

"If that were indeed a Council mandate for Mr Uzumaki's arrest it would have to have my signature attached to it as the Alliance's ambassador or failing that an Admiral's consent, of which I am without doubt certain you have neither. So what we are going to do instead is find out whether this is an illegal attempt to detain an Alliance citizen without just cause and faking a Council mandate, or whether you pair are C-Sec members at all..."

 

Jane had to admit that she underestimated Udina given how quickly he had turned the situation around on the C-Sec officers, who looked at each other for a moment before going for their weapons as two other Turians in the background drew assault rifles.

 

Before the Turian could finish drawing his shotgun Naruto was inside his guard, spear slamming into his shields and deflecting off to the side, but the blunt force of the blow still knocked the Turian off of his feet as his shields collapsed.

 

The Salarian started turning in a mix of shock and anger at his comrade being downed so easily only for Udina’s guards to mow him down in a concentrated blaze of fire that Jane and Ashley were happy to contribute to. As Naruto’s spear put the gasping Turian out of his misery with a thrust to the neck, the other attackers seemed to reconsider their attempted ambush and broke into the screaming and panicking crowds that made up the docks travellers.

  
Definitely not the way she wanted their first trip to the Citadel to start out...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Quite amused and impressed that this story has already made it into the top 5 of my most liked and followed stories, though I do think I have to review all my other stories to try and work out what has worked so well for this one and not my others. 
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter, will diverge from canon throughout this as Naruto’s appearance will interest more than just the Geth. Review and let me know what you think. Has been reviewed by PageOnMind on ffnet


	4. Never Invite a Ninja to a Show Trial

As she finished giving her evidence to the Council about Nihilus' death, Jane could already tell it was pointless. Though she had at least managed to turn the direction of the hearing back towards the death of the Spectre instead of just lambasting humanities perceived failures, using the analysis of his wounds to rule out both a Geth and human attacker, the Council were never going to condemn one of their top agents.

 

Saren seemed to know this as well, the slight apprehension he had shown when Jane had brought up the forensics melting away back to the arrogance and superiority complex he had demonstrated throughout the short hearing thus far.

 

“This farce proves nothing other than you let a Spectre die and still failed your mission objective which was to protect the beacon. Given the damage to it, I doubt we will be able to ever restore its functionality.” Jane had to rely on every inner scrap of her professional decorum not to unleash a tirade at Saren and the council for their attitude, she was quite proud of her restraint until a familiar voice called out from behind her on the left.

 

“Ano, considering you kept telling us how you couldn’t possibly have been at Eden Prime and that you had nothing to do with the mission Saren-san, you seem to know an awful lot of information about what happened there...” You could of heard a pin drop in the suddenly silent council chambers, Jane inwardly cheering for the boy’s seemingly oblivious comment that threw the whole hearing back at Saren.

 

Naruto’s words seemed to have caught everyone off guard, proof if any was needed that the boy was more astute than he let on most of the time, Saren’s delay in response for those two or three seconds all the proof Jane needed that he was lying through his teeth with his next statement.

 

“When Nihilus died all of his files were transferred to me by the Council, including all the information about the mission that lead to his demise, I was not impressed by what I read. But then again, humans and those that they claim are from the time of the Protheans...” That was as far as Saren got before Udina cut him off, the Ambassador more livid than Jane imagined possible as he pointed an accusing finger at the Council.

 

“You gave all the documents related to a murder and attempted colony genocide to the person we have proof was involved in it?” Udina seemed to be about to continue when the room suddenly became several degrees colder and when Naruto next spoke his voice was lower almost as if he was growling, though each word could be heard with remarkable clarity.

 

“So not only do you give the person being accused of an act of war upon the Alliance all the information he needs to make any questioning useless, but you also inform him of a highest level secret that he then blurts out to an entire room of dignitaries like an genin trying to impress his playground friends?”  

 

Jane hadn’t thought of the implications of Saren getting hold of the mission documents the way Naruto had worded it and it was clear that no-one else in the room had either. Saren started to speak only for Naruto to speak over him in a manner that made it clear that he wasn’t yet done.

 

“And not once do you stop him from being a bastard and talking about the Alliance like they are trash and deserved the Geth attack. It’s almost as if you agree with what he is saying...” What had been a few quiet murmurs amongst the gathered crowd suddenly became a fervour not just from the humans there but also many of the minor Council races as they realised quite what Naruto was implying.

 

Jane was gobsmacked at the gall Naruto had, not only accusing Saren of the Geth attack but of the Council for effectively supporting it and providing him with information to defend himself of being accused of his involvement.

 

Despite the fact she felt she should step in and stop him before he got the Council to actually arrest him legally this time, Jane couldn’t quite ignore the part of herself that was internally cheering as Naruto sent three of the most powerful people of the galaxy into a very uncomfortable position.

 

“You accuse this Council...” The Turian Councillor looked only a couple of seconds from ordering C-Sec to do just what Jane feared, talons gripping the handrail on his podium hard enough for the creaking to be heard from where Jane was stood.

 

Unlike the Turian however, the Asari and Salarian Councillors were a lot more astute of the mood of the room and with a only the smallest flick of her hand the Asari froze the Turian in place before he could do anymore damage than he already might have with his outburst.

 

Casting her eyes back to Naruto, Jane was surprised to see him glance at her at the same time, the young ninja seeming to question whether he should continue or not with his destruction of the galaxy’s most revered political force. With a small sigh Jane gave a small shake of her head, something she knew the more aware people in the room would catch before Naruto spoke once more, his voice returning to normal as he smiled and reached up to scratch the top of his head.

 

“Accuse? I apologise most humbly Councillor-sama if that is what you took my words to be, I merely was pointing out a couple of areas that I felt needed to be fully explained to avoid any... confusion arising.” The switch between cold hearted soldier and cheerful bemused boy happened so fast that Jane suspected most people thought Naruto had been switched with someone else or had a bi-polar disorder.

 

And despite his grin Naruto’s eyes made it clear that the olive branch he was giving the Council at this stage was one that he was more than happy to take back at any time. Obviously he was hiding more than Jane thought, given how even she had been surprised by the ease at which the boy had outmaneuvered everyone in the room, though that was probably because nobody else would ever have the balls to accuse the leaders of the main 3 races of supporting attempted genocide.

 

The Salarian was the quickest to react, the frog like alien barely glancing at his colleagues before rapidly filling the awkward silence that followed Naruto’s change in tactics.

 

“Very well, Uzumaki wasn’t it, we will ignore your rather abrupt way of raising your points for now. But I ask that you make your tone a little more respectful towards this Council in future and not to address us in such a manner.” Jane winced as she could see in her mind’s eye Naruto’s grin widening at the rebuke, but to her surprise he said nothing as the Salarian continued.

  
“In regards to your... questions, the process of transferring mission data between Spectres in the event of an Spectre’s death is all automated as soon as a Spectre’s death is confirmed. This allows for any pertinent and time-sensitive data that might be useful in following up the Spectre’s death to be pursued as quickly as possible.” That actually made sense to Jane and seemed to mollify the crowd a bit, the Asari taking over as she put on her best smile towards Naruto.

 

“How Saren got hold of the other information will be discussed outside of this hearing, as I can assure you the Council did not give out this information to anyone outside of us three. There is already an investigation going on regarding the two C-Sec officers and their illegal attempted arrest of you when you arrived at the Citadel, I am sure Saren will be more than happy to oblige in telling us how he gained that information to the investigating officers when the time comes...”

 

The Asari looked up pointedly at Saren at this, making it clear that no argument of any kind would be permitted at this stage. The change in tone towards Saren and the hearing in general was incredible, Jane almost laughing at the disgruntled look on the Spectre’s face as he was chastised in front of everyone.

 

“But the matter remains that there is no concrete evidence that you can provide us with that would indicate that Saren was anywhere near Eden Prime let alone leading the Geth against the colony.”

 

The pointed avoidance of Naruto’s last accusation/question about Saren’s anti-human attitude was obvious to Jane as the Asari tried to bring the hearing to a close as fast as possible, though given how much damage Naruto had done by speaking for less than a minute meant that Jane wasn’t really surprised they were trying to avoid giving him any more air time.

 

“Therefore Ambassador, with no conclusive results from the C-Sec investigation either, your petition to have Spectre Saren barred from the Spectres is denied.” The were more than a few angry shouts from the crowd at this, but Saren seemed to gain some of his former smugness back as he nodded thankfully to the Councillors before offering a mocking bow in Udina, Shepard and Anderson’s direction.

 

“I am glad to see that justice has been served.” Then the image wavered and disappeared, leaving Jane with a foul taste in her mouth as the Asari adjourned the meeting, C-Sec guards quickly vacating the crowds from the area before any more trouble arose. Udina was an interesting cross between frustrated and delighted as he quickly made his way over to Naruto and shook his hand rapidly.

 

“I have never seen the Council change their attitude so quickly, and you definitely had them on the defensive regarding the data transfer to Saren.” Despite this Naruto did not look pleased in the slightest, his grin faded to a frown as he looked at the three rapidly conversing Councillors behind the sound barrier they had erected when they finished the meeting.

 

Seeing this and curious about his rapid change in attitude, Jane decided to ask a question that she knew might open a whole can of worms, but at least they would mostly be aimed at the Council rather than at her.

 

“Naruto, what is the matter? I know we didn’t get Saren but we got somewhere right?” Naruto shook his head and nodded in the direction of the Salarian Councillor, eyes narrowing for a moment before nodding to himself.

 

“It’s not that Jane-taichou, I think a little investigating of our own will help us there. I am more concerned that the...Salarian right? Yeah, he lied right to our faces about that file transfer, though I have no idea what the word automated means...”

 

To his credit Udina didn’t even question Naruto’s statement, obviously the boy had very much impressed him during the hearing itself, the Ambassador resisting the obvious urge to get back on the podium and start laying into the Council once more.

 

“But what do we do regarding finding any evidence regarding Saren? Check in with C-Sec? That Garrus seemed to have an axe to grind with Saren...” Jane’s question seemed to bring Udina back to reality, the ambassador quickly going over all the flaws they had in the hearing, though he could have done it in a slightly less petulant manner.

 

5 minutes later Jane was heading back down the Presidium with her team of three in tow, several human’s stopping them on the way to congratulate Naruto on ‘taking it to those bigoted Councillors’, Naruto looking distinctly uncomfortable with the positive attention that he was receiving.

 

He only cheered up when they made it to the lift and were once again on their own, both Ashley and Kaidan looking at him in slight awe as he leaned back against the wall with a sigh before giving a smirk and asking the question that was on Jane’s own mind.

 

“So, whose heads are we going the smack together first Jane-taichou?”

 

***

 

Persona: Naruto Uzumaki

 

Naruto wouldn’t say he was particularly happy with how things had turned out thus far, but given he had woken up seemingly tens of thousands of years later than planned and was now on a freaking space ship easily twice the size of the Land of Fire surrounded by aliens, he liked to think he was doing fairly well in the circumstances.

 

He hadn’t managed to find any trace of the others on the planet he had woken up on, chakra sensing over a wide range being something he had picked up from Ero-Sennin during the resistance against the metal men that people called robots here. It didn’t work on the robots as they didn’t produce chakra, but it certainly kept him ahead of Orochimaru’s troops.

 

His clones had spread far and wide in the time he had been on Eden Prime and given the negative response he had received from them Naruto had to conclude that he had been moved at some stage from his home, whether by the robots or some other race like these Protheans everyone had gone on about he didn’t know. Summoning also hadn’t worked, but if he had been asleep for as long as Nirali and the others claimed, the chances of there still being any toads left to summon were small to say the least.

 

Many of his friends would have questioned going with the strange people who had come to collect Jane after they reached the Beacon, after all he didn’t know anything about these other humans other than the fact they were fighting against the machine men and the zombies. But it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go or another method of getting off planet, and given the rather dramatic increase in the search area he had for his friends now Naruto needed to at least get himself to somewhere he could start gathering proper information.

 

That didn’t mean he was stupid enough to trust the other humans, after all one of the first things Iruka had taught him in the academy was that anyone not wearing a leaf headband should be considered a possible enemy at all times. Of course, Mizuki, Kabuto and Orochimaru had all proved since then that you couldn’t even use the headband as a discerning form of friend/foe identification, but Naruto was doing his best not to think like that right now.

 

So he had taken to hiding in the shadowed places of the Normandy and allowing his clones to act for him, something he knew annoyed this Captain Anderson no end. There was no killing intent from the crew so Naruto wasn’t too worried, especially when Jane had woken up and started talking to his clones like they were in fact meant to be on the ship, but you could never be too cautious.

 

That was why he instructed his clones to make himself out to be more dangerous and experienced than he seemed at first glance, 7 years of experience certainly sounded a lot better than the year and a half that he actually had as a genin, hopefully that would stop anyone trying to start something. Actually, now Naruto thought about it, other than Wave, he wasn’t actually sure how much of his first 6 months counted as combat experience either.

 

But that wasn’t important, the captain had seemed to believe him and there wasn’t really any way they could really counter his claim, unless they actually did have one of his friends in which case all hell was going to break loose. Any misdirection was good misdirection, as one of the surviving Konoha ninja had told him after the initial attack, though his clone was probably overdoing it with that stupid ‘honour-bound’ comment.

 

He had tried to present the ‘public’ image that Konoha used when it was trying to win in civilian contracts for it’s ninja, showing them as bodyguards and warriors who would protect their clients to the death rather than the no holds barred killers most became, but he wasn’t a bloody samurai for Kami’s sake.

 

He liked Jane, she had been interesting on Eden Prime and obviously not one to stand aside and let her subordinates do all the dangerous jobs. Not to mention the fact she had pushed him out of the way when his ‘white samurai’ had kicked in to manhandle Ashley out of range of the beacon.

 

So he had intended on trying to stay with her in any case, especially once he found out about this Spectre thing she was being assessed for, it sounded exactly what he needed to carry on searching for his friends around the galaxy. But the damage had been done now and he would have to keep up the honour-bound charade or it would cast suspicion on what else Naruto had told them.

 

Jane, Anderson and one of his clones had spent quite some time during their travel to the Citadel talking to someone called Ambassador Udina,  who seemed to be one of the high up politicians in this Human Alliance and one of the people they were travelling to the Citadel to go and see. Naruto didn’t like him, but then again Naruto had never really liked people whose arrogance was based on their position’s power as opposed to any skill they actually had.

 

Despite the dim view he had to say the Ambassador had raised a few good points. Supposedly it had been agreed with the Council that Naruto would on paper be classed as an Alliance citizen, both to avoid any issues when he was boarding the Citadel and also to try and minimise any scrutiny he would receive from other parties due to his sudden appearance.

 

It hadn’t worked, given the attempted abduction that occurred right after arriving at the giant space station, but Naruto wasn’t really surprised, it had hardly been a half decent espionage attempt in his eyes. His clone, as the real him watched from a nearby alley way, had been a bit overzealous in dealing with his attacker, Naruto still preferred to avoid killing if he could avoid it, but given the dark memories being called ‘subject’ and ‘thing’ had brought to his mind it was understandable if not entirely reprehensible.

 

The fight, if it could really be called that, had delayed them for a couple of hours as an investigation by other officers of this ‘C-Sec’ division took place into why two of their officers had been gunned down in the middle of a crowded docking area. Naruto’s clone had been interviewed by 3 separate people before finally a Turian entered and introduced himself as Executor Pallin. Given how quickly Naruto had been released under the man’s orders, that probably meant he was very powerful in the C-Sec organisation.

 

Pallin had escorted him to his office where he had made it clear that he knew the truth about Naruto’s origins, affirming Naruto’s suspicions that he was in fact an important person on the Citadel and to the Council, and that if Naruto wanted to stay under the radar he would need to avoid utilising his rather... unique method of combat on the Citadel.

 

Pallin had told him any more bodies turning up with obvious stab wounds and without due authorisation would ensure that he would be seeing a lot more of the inside of a cell, regardless of any demands from the Council or others. The fact that he specified the bit about authorisation made Naruto grin internally even as his clone made a promise and left to head over to the embassy. Obviously there might be a chance to do some freelance work on the Citadel if things were that bad here that an Executor (whatever that was) was offering authorised vigilante work.

 

Upon returning to the human embassy Naruto had found Jane and the others getting prepped to go see the Council about the attack on Eden Prime with Udina rather snidely insisting that he “stop wasting everyone’s time so that they could get going”.

 

As he followed Jane and his clone as they exited the lift from the Council chambers from the obscurity of the crowds milling around the Presidium, Naruto was a little surprised by how easy it had been for his clone to mess with the esteemed Council’s show trial. Naruto would be the first to admit that he was ill-suited towards many of the seedier parts that came with being a traditional ninja. But in a ninja village when everyone talked in half truths, insinuations and inferences you either learned to become a decently skilled verbal combatant or you became a sucker for everyone, and Naruto was no sucker.

 

Saren’s attitude and general demeanour left so many holes for him to attack it must have been hard for the clone to keep himself at the 3 points he had used, a couple of henged agitators in the crowd doing the rest of the work for him. God he loved shadow clones. Once Udina and Anderson had given them their targets after the Council dismissed them he already had half a dozen of them flitting through the station. If anything about Saren did come up elsewhere on the station he would probably be the first one to hear it.

 

But he could worry about that later, Naruto was now keeping track of at least three people who were tracking Jane and the others with various degrees of subtlety. Now, Naruto couldn’t just kill or knock them out, after the attention they had received earlier it was likely that at least one of the shadows was Council aligned and Naruto was already in their bad books. But whilst he couldn’t tell who was reporting to whom and therefore who he could take out, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t cause them to become... delayed.

 

Five minutes, and two henged shadow clones later, two of the people who had been following Jane were being questioned by C-Sec over indecent assault charges and theft respectively. The Salarian and the Asari shadowers were completely blindsided by the claims of the two Nirali lookalikes he had created for the task. It wouldn’t stick, or at least it probably wouldn’t, but that wasn’t important to Naruto as he perched above the walkway leading to Chora’s Den.

  
What was important was the two Turians he had found armed and ready for combat, waiting for the arrival of someone. With Jane on the way, Naruto had a sinking feeling he knew exactly who was the pairs target. A small smirk came over his face as he thought about it for a moment, stowing the scroll with Kushina in it and shifting position so that he was directly above one of the two Turians, there was nothing better than a counter ambush to lighten a ninja’s day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So... Not a long A/N this time, just two questions.
> 
> First, I am probably going to switch Naruto back to the honorifics system when speaking to people and I am not going to have most translators translate it. Primarily because I think that it's a habit Naruto is not going to break easily having grown up with it all his life, and secondly because I don’t want want to take another thing from Naruto that makes him who he is. 
> 
> Secondly, what did people think of the trial? It bordered on a rather dark path that I hadn’t considered until I started writing this, what if the Council had asked Saren to sabotage humanities interests on the sly and for the most part agreed with what he was saying up until he called the Geth in and started massacring people? It puts a whole different slant on the first Mass Effect and the rest of the series, essentially that Cerberus might actually have a leg to stand on...
> 
> Review please, I love the fact that so many people love this story enough to favourite/follow it, but I do like to hear from people what it is they like/dislike.


	5. Political promotions

It all happened so fast that if she hadn't felt the impact of rounds upon her shields Jane might have thought she had just imagined the sound of assault gun fire. They had been walking to Chora's den after checking in with Executor Pallin. Checking in with the head of law enforcement on the Citadel Naruto's idea given they were wanting to carry out an investigation into someone who had already proved that he was more than happy to hire someone else to try and take them out and also was a known politically-savvy adversary. That now seemed to be a very good idea seeing as they were under attack.

She didn't know how Naruto had done it but after explaining what their plan was, Pallin and Naruto had merely looked at each other for a moment before Pallin allowed them to investigate further into Saren, as long as they had a C-Sec member with them whenever they performed any investigatory work. This would allow for the evidence to be used in legal proceedings without fear of it being thrown out for being 'contaminated'.

Given they had been going to find Garrus anyway Jane was more than happy to agree, since the writ that Pallin gave them would allow them to act as conscripts to C-Sec under Garrus for the duration of the investigation. But it wouldn't cover them being attacked before they found Garrus. Drawing her shotgun against the new threat Jane was surprised when suddenly the Turian who had shot at her was downed by a familiar figure who descended left foot first onto the Turian's back, sending the Turian to the floor with shields shattering under the force even as Naruto spun in the air.

His foot slammed into the other Turian's jaw even as he turned with weapon ready, shotgun going off over Naruto's left shoulder as the young ninja then went to work with his fists, two blows slamming into the Turian's shields in less than a second, before they failed spectacularly. The Turian tried to back up even as Shepard and the others moved up to hem him in, but Naruto didn't give him any space and bodily threw the Turian into the wall next to him so hard he actually bounced off and rolled over twice before coming to a groaning stop.

Indicating for Kaidan to check the first Turian, Shepard kicked the second one's Shotgun away from him before turning to the Naruto that had counter ambushed them. Given his slightly heavier breathing, Shepard had a suspicion and decided to test it a moment later. There was the start of a cry from the Naruto next to her as she cuffed him round the head, causing him to explode into smoke a moment later, drawing a confused look from the Naruto in front of her.

"You are the real one I assume?" It was more a statement than a question and given Naruto's slight widening of the eyebrows Jane knew she was spot on. But she didn't elaborate any further than that, after all if she did tell him that she had based her guess on the fact that his clones didn't alter their breathing unless they were absolutely exhausted, then he would just make sure to cover that for next time.

"Good work on these two, though a little warning would be nice next time." The mixed compliment and rebuke made Naruto smile a little sheepishly even as Ashley and Kaidan finished checking them for weapons or other equipment, the two pistols, supply of Medigel and small stock of grenades showing that the pair had properly been prepared for battle rather than this being a random mugging attempt.

"Can your clones take these two to C-Sec whilst we move on? Even if they did try and kill us it is a bit heartless to leave them unconscious and bound in an area like this." It also might get them in Palin's good books and even the name of the person that hired them to try and kill her, but primarily because she liked to think of herself as having some morals.

Naruto nodded and a moment later a trio of clones appeared before shifting themselves into non descript humans, two of them staying stood over the bodies whilst the third flitted off back the way they had come, undoubtedly to get a hold of C-Sec and bring them here rather than try and take two unconscious Turians through the Wards. Jane also instructed the clones to take the Turians weapons, primarily to deter those she could already see skulking nearby, but also to stop the Turians from causing any trouble if they woke up.

If C-Sec wanted to take the weapons that was fine, but Shepard had always been a bit of an opportunist and if the opportunity to obtain a couple of extra weapons was there she would happily take it. Now all she needed to do was stop the real Naruto from baling at the first opportunity and leaving her stuck with a clone again...

Persona- Naruto

They had checked in with Harkin, the drunken layabout quickly fraying both Jane's and his own temper with his attitude, but the information about where they could find Garrus was very useful. Almost too useful in fact Naruto thought as he checked the last of the bodies in the clinic that the 5 of them had just cleared, Harkin was probably much better at intel gathering than everyone realised if he was able to keep such good tabs on any one person amongst the thousands in C-Sec.

Something for him to investigate further at another time, the information Dr Michel had provided them meant that they had an actual tangible lead, though given their potential source was unknowingly trying to give her damning information to their enemy without realising it that might mean nothing. Garrus and Shepard were all for storming back to Chora's den and dealing with Fist until they found out where this mysterious Quarian was, but the memories of two of his clones that he had received in the last few minutes made Naruto a little more cautious about the potential backlash...

*Clone One Memory*

" _I have stationwide reports of a vigilante who has taken out over a dozen muggers, drug dealers and other unsavoury characters in a matter of 3 hours, despite the net distance between the different events being far then would be possible by a human not using the taxi-car system and knowing where each event was going to take place in advance. It is almost as if there were in fact multiple copies of the same person scattered throughout the Citadel..." Executor Pallin gave Naruto a nonplussed look at this point, something Naruto could understand now that he had looked the Citadel up a lot more on the Extranet._

_Each of the 5 arms that made up the Citadel's main body had 40,000 odd C-Sec officers serving as a mixture of the police and other emergency response units, and right at the top of that pile was the Turian sat in front of him. The only reason the Executor had time to deal with him in person was that each of the arm districts ran themselves pretty much independently, leaving the executor primarily to control the funding of the overall organisation, the joint operations between the different groups and of course the C-Sec 'Royal Guard' who protected the Presidium and the Council chambers._

_Given the rather ridiculous responsibilities of the man's tasks, Naruto could see how Palin was a little upset with him rocking the boat with his extracurricular work, but he felt he had to defend his actions a little at this stage._

" _What else was I meant to do Executor-san, let those people get away with what they were doing? Someone could have gotten killed if I had ignored it..." Palin seemed to be a little less upset at his protest which was a good thing, but then he seemed to remember something else that had no doubt been mentioned in the reports._

" _And the fact that all of the individuals in question had been stripped of their armour, weapons and money before being tied to various objects with 'Present for C-Sec' inscribed in some kind of pen into their foreheads? By the Primarch Uzumaki one of them was a Krogan!" Ah, so the boss's other clones had reverted a little to their pranking ways, understandable given his frustration at things._

_And the weapons etc were a good start on making some money of his own so that he wouldn't have to keep scrounging off Shepard all the time, though telling Pallin that probably wouldn't earn him any plus points. So Naruto fell back on an old trick of his he had used with the Sandaime Hokage back when he had been a child._

" _Eh, no idea what that is about, I am sure I had nothing to do with that occurring Executor-san." True in the strictest sense, this particular clone had nothing to do with it. Palin seemed to realise the game he was playing and sighed in frustration before flicking something across the table to him, a silver badge that Naruto had only heard about when he had been looking up the organisation on the internet..._

" _Well, if I can't stop you from doing these things on MY station I can at least make sure you do it properly. You are now a contracted C-Sec agent and will be able to stop crimes in progress, though no more taking people's gear unless there is a valid reason for such actions understood?" Looking down at the little badge with a giant grin on his face, Naruto had nodded his head. He was going to have a lot of fun with this..._

*Clone One Memory End*

Yeah, best Naruto let the Executor know of what they were planning, even with Garrus and now him there to make the thing slightly less illegal, the fact they had already killed half a dozen people and not even started did not bode well for a bloodless incident to come. And if that was going to be the case, then there was someone else they probably wanted along for the ride...

*Clone Two Memory*

_The clone had been in the Presidium C-Sec building when he had heard mention of trouble at Chora's den being discussed by a C-Sec officer, as he and three other officers escorted a particularly well scarred Krogan from the holding cells._

" _And stay away from Chora's Den Wrex, you are already in trouble for the incident upon your arrival, anymore and..." The C-Sec officer stopped as the Krogan merely turned and cast him a glowering look, the officers reaching for their weapons as he growled._

_"You'll do what dog? I could take you all down before you hand a chance to use those weapons and you know it. Let Fist know that I am coming for him, and just pray you aren't the one he calls for help from when I do..." The Krogan was certainly interesting, and dangerous enough to cow four officers of the law into backing down inside their own bloody HQ. If he was going to be aiming for Chora's den then it was best if the boss knew right away..._

*Clone Two Memory End*

A quick search on the extranet by one of his other clones had highlighted the Krogan Warlord's infamous and bloody career that stretched back almost a millennia. When it came to battle experience and body count, Naruto doubted anyone could claim to have more than Wrex did. And now they had a common enemy, though Naruto hoped that Wrex would see it that way as he called out to Shepard to tell her of his plans. If Wrex decided they instead were competition, then it wouldn't be Fist they had to worry about...

*Timeskip*

Luckily Wrex had decided that extra help wouldn't be an issue, especially when Jane had made it clear that she wasn't trying to get in on the bounty money and merely wanted information from the man. Naruto had offered to keep searching the Wards whilst they stormed Chora's Den, given his still rather pathetic accuracy with the guns everyone seemed so fond off and Pallin's 'request' that he not use his spear unless absolutely necessary, he would most likely be as much a spectator as an asset. He had some jutsu he could use of course, but the more of those he could keep under wraps the better.

Jane had given him a long look that reminded him of Sakura-chan when she wasn't entirely sure if she trusted what he had said, a look that still struck him with phantom terror that he had done or said something that would set off the Cherry Blossom's rather short emotional fuse. Guessing what it is Jane wanted he promised he would keep in touch via the comms and that he would be the one coming back. That seemed to confuse both Garrus and Wrex but Naruto was fine with that, the two aliens only just on first name terms with him would have to somehow stick around for quite sometime before he gave them anything else.

With Shepard's taciturn approval Naruto had jogged off whilst the others made their move towards Chora's Den, the sounds of fighting and gunfire letting Naruto know quite how prepared Fist had been for trouble. Another strike against the Council and C-Sec's internal security, given Pallin had only given approval for the raid 20 minutes ago and the paperwork would probably not be cleared for the next couple of hours, but they could worry about that once they found this Quarian and had her safe from any other reprisals Saren might have in store.

Given there were thousands of Quarians in the Ring Wards alone, the idea that he would be able to find the one they needed was laughable given the lack of distinguishing features the body-suited aliens had to offer, but given that if Fist hadn't already met and killed her then she would not be in Chora's Den then having people spread out through the station would be beneficial if Fist did know anything useful about her.

"Naruto." Jane's voice over the comms was a surprising relief to Shepard after the minutes of silence after the fighting, he had originally been worried that they had been overwhelmed by Fist's security.

"Yes, Shepard-taichou?" Whilst waiting for her continue speaking Naruto created another clone, which would act as a relay to the other clones on the station when it dispelled.

"Fist is talking, seems he still has this Quarian under the impression that he works for the Shadow Broker. She has asked to meet with the Shadow Broker in person which would never happen, but Fist has claimed that he has arranged it at a secluded location in the wards, I am sending you the location now. The meet is in 10 minutes, which is cutting it close from the Den. What is your ETA?" Looking at his omni-tool, a present from Jane that worked a lot better than the original piece of outdated crap Udina had presented him with, Naruto realised that he was nearly at the location she had highlighted.

"I can be there and set up in two minutes Shepard-taichou. What are your orders if the Quarian arrives before you do?" There was a murmured discussion on the other end of the line before Jane spoke once more.

"If possible, warn the Quarian and then keep her hidden and safe until we arrive. If that isn't possible and as Fist claims there are assassins from Saren waiting for her, deal with them however is necessary but keep that Quarian alive." Easy enough orders then, now to go check out the ambush site...

*Line Break*

Persona- Tali

Turning into the alley that Fist had told her the Shadow Broker's agents would be waiting to vet her and then lead her to the Shadow Broker himself, Tali seriously regretted ever taking that data off the Geth's memory banks. Since then she had been hounded halfway across the galaxy and even now was constantly looking over her shoulder in case one of saren's men had finally managed to track her down.

There were three people waiting for her in the alley, a Turian stood in an obviously impatient manner and a pair of Salarians leaning against a power unit a little further down. The Turian noticed her arrival and gestured with his arm.

"Did you bring it?" That question brought Tali up short for a moment, this wasn't how Fist had said things were going to go.

"What about the Shadow Broker? And where is Fist?" There was a sinking feeling in her stomach as the Turian sighed and shrugged in a very uncaring manner.

"They will be here, now where is evidence?" So either Fist lied to her or the Shadow Broker decided not to bother with an exchange, either way Tali needed to leave right now.

"No way, the deal is off." The fact that this didn't seem to surprise or upset the Turian was another warning bell joining the half a dozen others that were going off in her head as all three of them suddenly drew pistols in an obviously menacing manner. Tali went to palm the grenade that had been in her belt for this exact reason, calculating mentally the distance between where she was stood now and the nearest cover, when suddenly her world vision spun.

A moment later she found herself collapsed on one of the walkways overlooking the alley even as the three assassins opened fire at where she had been standing. As she moved to right herself from the strange half lying position she found herself in, Tali froze as a hand covered the lower half of her face visor, the feeling of someone else pulling her to them in a firm but not overly threatening manner a new and rather unique sensation.

"Shh, don't move or they will hear you Quarian-chan." The voice was obviously male and her internal communications display showed he was talking a human language called Japanese, and despite the plethora of questions about how she had gotten to where she was and who he was Tali did as he asked.

The assassins were still searching the nearby hiding places for her when suddenly the male holding her in place spoke once more, though this time it obviously wasn't to her.

"I have the Quarian. There are three of them Shepard-taichou, want me to take them out?" Tali didn't hear the reply but by the Krogan roar that reverberated around the alleyway (after all there was no other species in the galaxy that could be quite that terrifying with a simple noise), followed by the sharp staccato of gunfire made it clear that whoever this person was working with had decided to sort things out for themselves.

The grip on her visor and waist suddenly released and Tali took the opportunity to rapidly move away from her erstwhile saviour/captor, turning to look at who it was she owed her rescue to. The first impression she got looking at the blonde haired human in front of her was that he was quite young even by the standard of the few humans she had interacted with since starting her pilgrimage.

But even in a crouched position he had a confidence that made her wary even as his eyes shifted between her and the fight below. She went to grab her pistol, more to reassure herself that she had some defence left as opposed to trying to threaten him, but her hand met an empty holster.

"Looking for this Quarian-chan?" Her frantic panicking abated slightly as she saw the human holding her pistol in his left hand, not even slightly contrite as he held it out to her with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Apologies, but I didn't want you to do anything stupid when I grabbed you Quarian-chan. Now, judging by the fact that those guys just tried to kill you I think I would be safe in saying you need a hand correct?" As she took back her pistol with slightly shaking hands, her delayed response to the life-death situation she had been in, Tali knew without asking that the man was not asking and more telling her that he and whoever this Shepard was had business with her whether she liked it or not.

But given that her last shot of evading Saren by going to Fist had failed terribly it wasn't like Tali had any other options, not that she could probably get away from this guy if she wanted to, given how easily he had held her in place and spirited her away from the ambush. Still, even if she knew that this man might well kill her for it, Tali would rather die quickly as opposed to walking into yet another trap naively.

"You're not with Saren are you human? Not that I am ungrateful for you saving me or anything and even if you were I am sure that I wouldn't be able to stop you if you did want to hurt me..." Oh Keelah, she was babbling again, this is embarrassing. Luckily the human didn't seem to mind as he grinned at her before shaking his head.

"No, in fact he is part of the reason why Shepard-taichou is here, we are in fact trying to gather evidence against him..." Evidence he obviously already knew she had otherwise they probably wouldn't be having this conversation. The human paused for a second before looking down and speaking again.

"Looks like they are done Quarian-chan, so I think we had best get back down there. But not a word of where we went to anyone okay?" Tali nodded a little distractedly, a small part of her mind noting that it would be hard for her to tell anyone how they had got up there given she had no idea, for the most part she was more assessing the 30 foot drop and quite how the human intended for them to get down...

*Line Break*

Persona- Jane Shepard

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." The woman's voice reverberated around the Council chambers after the damning rendition of Saren's boastful comment, even now after having heard it half a dozen times Shepard was absolutely giddy at sticking it to the bastard.

They had only met that once, but he had managed to piss her off more than anyone that wasn't a Batarian. Of course, the Council had to verify the recording that Tali had submitted to Executor Pallin, an idea from Anderson to further remove the idea this was a human crusade against the Spectre. But with Pallin's word and with no signs of tampering the Council had no recourse other than to admit they were wrong this time. Probably why the Council rooms had been cleared of everyone but Ambassadors and other high ranking Council race members.

"You wanted proof, there it is." Udina for once was selective with his wording, but his smugness was easy to hear even as the mutterings of the ambassadors started up with earnest, obviously this kind of embarrassment to the Council and their little force of operatives didn't happen very often.

"This proof is irrefutable, Ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him to justice." When the Turian finished speaking the Asari spoke with a slightly disbelieving tone tinging her melodic voice.

"I recognise that other voice, the one speaking with Saren in the recording. As much as I don't want to believe it, that is the voice of Matriarch Benezia." Shepard was not as up to date with Asari culture as he would perhaps have liked, but anyone with an obviously powerful title like Matriarch was not someone he wanted on Saren's side.

"I am unfamiliar with the term Matriarch and this Benezia Councillor, would you please enlighten us?" The Asari nodded, tone firmer as she spoke of the culture of her people.

"Matriarchs are powerful Asari who have entered the final stages of their lives. They are revered for their wisdom and collected experiences, often they serve as guides or teachers to my people. Due to their hallowed status, Matriarchs are venerated by many young Asari who will follow their path almost without question. Matriarch Benezia is one of the most powerful biotics of her generation and her teachings have given her many followers. If for whatever reason she has allied herself with Saren, then she will give him a formidable array of resources to wield in addition to his established Spectre network."

Shepard felt like turning and smashing her head against a wall, an ex-Spectre with an army of geth and allied with a very powerful Asari with a sizable force of her own and centuries of experience? This day just kept getting better and better. The Salarian spoke up in the ensuing silence, obviously eager to shift the focus away from what was quickly becoming a rather major political embarrassment for him and his colleagues.

"I am more interested in Saren's mention of the Reapers in the recording, obviously if he was on Eden Prime for the Beacon as has now been proven, he is trying to gather information on them. Captain Anderson, Commander Shepard, what do you know about them?" Anderson took a step forward and Shepard let his superior speak, he could tag on any other information the captain didn't mention at the end.

"Only what Tali here managed to extract from the Geth data core along with the recording about Saren." The mention and gesture to the nervous Quarian girl had the Salarian narrow his eyes in distaste whilst the Turian full on frowned, the two's expressions making Tali look like she was about to bolt.

As Anderson carried on speaking Shepard was both slightly amused and surprised when Naruto moved from slightly behind her and to the left, stepping across purposefully to stand between Tali and the council, crossing his arms and giving a blank stare as the Turian focussed on him whilst the Salarian looked away a little uncomfortably.

"The Reapers are an ancient race of machine that wiped out the Protheans before suddenly, they vanish from the known galaxy." Seeing her chance to interject with her own view as Anderson finished speaking, Shepard spoke up, her eyes never leaving the Turian Councillor's own after the Councillor looked away from Naruto.

"The Geth seem to revere the Reapers almost as Gods and whether using the Geth for his own ends or because he actually believes he can do so, Saren is becoming their Prophet for the Reapers return. Whatever this Conduit is that Saren mentions, it is obviously key to bringing them back. That is why he attacked Eden Prime, he is searching for it and the Beacon was a clue." The Councillors looked unconvinced even as Shepard spoke, but that was unsurprising as it was one hell of a tough sell, but it was certainly how it looked based on what she had seen thus far.

"Do we even know what the Conduit is that they are searching for?" The Salarian was at least being objective if skeptical about the whole thing, which was something Shepard could certainly respect and appreciate given the almost unthinking denial from his compatriots. Seeing Anderson glance at her it was obvious Jane was to field the question.

"No we don't, but does that really matter Councillors? Saren believes it exists and has shown that he will happily destroy entire colonies in his attempts to find it." The Turian almost didn't speak at that comment, seeming to second guess himself for a moment before uttering a response in an incensed tone that truly showed the man was now under pressure.

"Listen to yourself Commander. You think that Saren wants to bring back an armada of machines that wiped out all advanced life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago? It is impossible nonsense. It has to be. If the Reapers do exist, where did they go? Why would they leave after completely winning what must have been a costly conflict for them? And there has been no trace of their existence other than a few garbled texts obviously written by mad men? If they were real, we would have had to have found something!" Obviously the Turian was more focussed on quelling the panic that would arise from the existence of a galaxy cleansing machine attack, rather than trying to prevent the possibility of it happening.

Shepard sighed, she could already see where this was going, but had to try and get it into their heads quite how big a deal this actually was.

"Regardless of whether or not the Reapers are still around, the fact that Saren is searching the galaxy for them is proof enough we need to take action, better to have taken action needlessly than have been caught unawares." The Asari shook her head, which didn't really surprise Shepard all that much.

"What you are proposing is different to the issue of dealing with Saren. I will admit we were wrong about Saren and you proved that, for some reason he is after this conduit device, but we do not really know why. The Reapers are obviously just a myth Commander, one that Saren is using both to utilise the Geth as well as to hide his true purpose, whatever that may be." The Salarian seemed a bit unsure of the Asari's words but kept his mouth shut as the Turian councillor weighed in.

"Not that it matters any more, Saren has been stripped of his title, resources and manpower. Whatever he hoped to achieve will be difficult whilst he has no means to achieve them." Shepard actually couldn't believe the Turian's comment given what they had just discussed, barely restraining herself from losing all control of her temper and letting rip with what she thought of the 'honoured' Councillors opinions.

"I'm sorry Councillor-sama, but if that is your opinion I think we have just been listening to two very different conversations." All rage dissipated from Jane's shoulders as her new best friend spoke up for the first time since the hearing had begun, Jane enjoying the slight look of concern that passed over the Asari Councillor's face before she too turned to look at the young ninja.

Though Naruto's pose was the same as when he had moved in front of Tali before, there was now a rigidness of his body that spoke of anger he was doing a magnificent job of keeping from his voice as he gestured around the room almost mockingly.

"I can't speak for all of these good people of course, it might be my translator that acted up. So to clarify Councillor-sama, Saren has an army of Geth that whilst of an unknown size is certainly large enough to prevent the Quarians from trying to retake their home. This is with them having the largest single fleet in the galaxy of course. In addition he has a ship that is larger than the Destiny Ascension along with a wizened Asari and her own band of followers, again of unknown size and skill." Whoever taught Naruto to ovate needed to give her lessons Jane decided as he paused for just a moment to let the true magnitude of what this now Ex-Spectre had to command, before Naruto gave his final blow of his impromptu speech.

"Is that what you meant when he had no resources or manpower that humanity needed to be worried about Councillor-sama? Or did I get a mistranslation of all of that?" There was silence for several moments as everyone in the chamber tried to work out whether Naruto had in fact pointed straight at the elephant in the room they had all been ignoring, or merely pointed at the footsteps and let everyone else make their own conclusions.

The Council seemed to have learnt their lesson from last time about reacting instantly to Naruto's unsubtle jibes hidden in his 'attempt to clear up a possible mistranslation', god she was going to have to use that one at some point in the future. Instead the three of them spoke quietly for a moment before the Salarian spoke up a little hesitantly.

"You definitely do not hide your feelings or mince your words young man, even if you do better at veiling your accusations now, something I think my fellow Councillors are not used to. I agree with you, this is a threat we cannot simply ignore but you must understand, we as the Council cannot bring the Galaxy into turmoil rashly. Even with the threat Saren poses to humanity's colonies." The grin that appeared on Naruto's face showed the Salarian's mistake, the words lighting a fire in Udina as he whirled back to face the Council from where he had been watching Naruto approvingly, voice loud and angry.

"Enough, I have had it with the anti-human resentment shown here, you have in effect given this lap-dog of yours enough power and resources to damage humanity's interests for decades if not centuries to come, and now you say you will do nothing? You might as well be giving Saren's attacks against us your personal blessing!" Shepard had to admit Udina had a surprising gift for altering the tone and meaning of a conversation to his advantage, even if he was just rehashing Naruto's material from the last Council meeting.

Naruto didn't seem to mind though, the ninja allowing the focus to shift from him to the Ambassador, his work seemingly done for the moment and now content to become lost in the crowd once more. Even with very few humans in the room this time there was a lot of angry murmuring now, primarily from the races like the Volus and the Elcor who had always been in the shadow of the Council and were now obviously wondering if there was a reason for that.

"I would remind you of who you are speaking to before you accuse us so blatantly of corruption and wrongdoing Ambassador Udina! We have not and will not give Saren any such support that you have alluded to, but for us to strike out into the Terminus blindly and without direction would be worse for everyone, including humanity. What I was going to say before your brazen attempt at mob politics hit the stage was that there is another option, one that does not involve fleets or armies directly." The Asari obviously realised that the Council were very quickly being backed into a corner, from which they would only have had were two very unpleasant and far reaching ways of dealing with the problem.

So she was trying to take the third wildcard option that Jane had almost entirely forgotten about given the events since Eden Prime, the Turian Councillor realising at the same time what the Asari was implying and obviously not happy with it in the slightest.

"No! Humanity is not ready for the responsibility..." The Turian though obviously incensed trailed off quickly as the Asari turned a baleful glare in his direction even as grumbling erupted in the watching crowds once more. She assessed the tension in the room before whispering across to the Turian, Jane only catching it as she had her suit microphone trained on her.

"This situation is already a political nightmare as it is, if we are seen to do nothing now the Alliance could well break from the Council if not worse! This way we do not risk Galactic war and give humanity what we were going to give them anyway!" Judging by the cheeky grin and wink from Naruto after she heard that Jane had no doubt he had heard the same as she had.

And somehow Jane got the idea that this was what his intervention had been in aid of in the first place, to push the Council into a corner where they would promote her to a Spectre rather than just try and brush the whole thing under a rug. With that the Asari looked over to the Salarian Councillor, who nodded quickly before turning back to face the four humans and the others. The Turian looked like he was going to refuse for a moment but then all three typed something into the console in front of them, the Asari Councillor speaking up a moment later.

"Commander Shepard, step forward." A glance to Shepard's right and a quick nod from Anderson told Shepard, this was about to be the big moment she had been told to expect upon landing on the Citadel from Eden Prime. Stepping up so that she was stood next to Udina, Jane looked around to see the viewing platforms quiet and in obvious anticipation of what was to come.

"It is the decision of the Council, having reviewed your actions both on Eden Prime and before that, to grant you all of the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Council." As the Council carried on an obviously scripted and well practiced intermix of short speeches, Jane couldn't help but feel a little cheated.

Even with everything she had done, all the achievements and sacrifices she had gone through, her promotion was now based on political intrigue and what was essentially blackmail. Even as she put on a fake smile and said her acceptance of the offer, Jane berated that rather depreciating thought, her thoughts turning more positive as she turned to face the crowd and her eyes locked with Naruto's.

The young ninja gave her two thumbs up before joining in the clapping and somehow, that made the whole ordeal somewhat more bearable...

**A/N: Another case of Naruto probably being a little politically OP but at the same time even when I played ME for the first time I was wishing for the opportunity to take the Turian to task for his blatant dumbing down of the threat, so it isn't exactly political genius territory...**

**So we now have a Spectre, though admittedly it is one that knows full well her promotion was more to stop a potential intergalactic war as opposed to her skills. So her new employers are going to find her far from the kowtowing servant they might be praying for, especially with a C-Sec authorised Naruto to back her up.**

**The whole scene about Naruto and Pallin was pretty much the executors way of turning Naruto from a vigilante into a sort of P.I. This is both because Pallin realises that Naruto will be more help to him and C-Sec if he brings him 'on side', and also because he knows Naruto will do it regardless.**

**So as there is no proof that it was Naruto that did it (Henge, gotta love it) other than his semi admittance and also the fact that the vigilante struck so quickly over such a large area (Council classified secret!), there really wasn't many other ways Pallin could deal with it...**

**Let me know what you think.**


	6. Operation Teamwork

Being a C-Sec contracted P.I was evidently good business Jane thought, as she and Naruto sat down for dinner to celebrate her Spectre promotion. The Ninja having asked that they go to a weapons shop first, so that Naruto had some items other than the spare marine armour that had been rather quickly adapted to his size, before then asking if she then wanted to go for ramen afterwards. The request for assistance with procuring Naruto some new equipment had surprised her slightly, the young ninja usually determined to do everything by himself if he could at all manage it.

And, if he had been a bit older, Jane would have assumed he was yet another idiot trying to get into her pants by flaunting some money around. But that was just her rather pessimistic view on men shining through probably, and Naruto didn't seem the type that was used to having money at all, let alone enough of it to go on a spending spree like this.

They had left the others at the Normandy for now, even though Jane had agreed to have Tali, Garrus and Wrex join their crew that didn't mean she trusted them enough to let her guard down yet. They were each a specialist in their own fields and given the magnitude of the task before her, Jane wasn't going to turn down free allies, especially ones she actually knew without a doubt were against Saren.

But that didn't mean they weren't working for someone else that might decide to cause her trouble, so for now she would keep them at arm's length, Naruto clones watching their every move. As for the two Alliance members of her strikeforce, Ashley needed some rest after all the running around and Kaidan's implants had started acting up, meaning it was only the two of them.

So after a cab journey that took them away from the core of the Citadel and instead into one of it's arms, Naruto was now armed with a Firestorm Mk4 shotgun, a pair of Striker pistols and dressed in Predator armour that probably matched or exceeded her own armour at the moment in terms of defensive capability. Though she had been honest with her appraisal of the different weapon and armour types and their key points, Jane had initially baulked at the final price tag when he had followed her suggestions almost to the letter.

But Naruto had just given her another of his slightly infuriating grins before paying with a credit chip she certainly hadn't seen anyone give him and promising to explain later. After another mouthful of noodles, Jane decided that she might as well broach the topic now before it bugged her further.

"Naruto, where did you get the money to buy that equipment? You've only been on the Citadel a day..." Naruto chuckled and tapped something into his omni tool, not quite as agile as a normal person yet, but given his lack of familiarisation it was incredible quite how quickly he was adapting.

"Jane-chan, are you accusing me of immoral activities?" Even with the indignation in his voice Naruto's grin remained, and as she checked the mail that he had forwarded to her she could understand why.

"The Council gave you how much? Just because you are a new species that 'needs help integrating into society'? And yet they expect me to fund my hunt for Saren on my own money?" Naruto chuckled again and shook his head, even as her inbox chimed again with a notification of her accounts, showing a deposit of 50,000 credits had been made less than a minute ago from an unknown account.

Despite the generosity of the gesture Jane couldn't help but get angry at the young man in front of him, she didn't need pity from him even if that isn't how he meant it. Naruto seemed to realise her change in mood before she had a chance to speak, the young man quick to hold up his hands defensively as her own tightened into fists.

"Whatever you are thinking Jane-chan, it's not like that." Despite her inner urge to make her opinion of what it seemed like VERY clear, Jane decided to give Naruto a chance to explain himself first. After all, he had already surprised her a couple of times, this might yet be another one of them.

"From what the Council said along with Udina-san's information, Spectres can act as everything from business owners to assassins, as long as they keep broadly within the rules of the Citadel races and don't do anything overtly against the law. So in effect, you are now in the same job role that I used to be in Jane-chan only with a lot more freedom from your boss aka the Council to pick and choose any other jobs you wish to take." Way to water down her promotion even further, Naruto now made her sound like a gun for hire more than anything else.

"So with that in mind, the credits are a down payment on the job we already agreed on, back on the Normandy before we had to deal with these idiots." It took a moment, Jane's memories of the last few days since the rather whirlwind arrival of the young ninja, but then it clicked and she actually felt slightly guilty for her earlier anger.

"Naruto, I said I would help you look for your people because it is the right thing to do, not because of money. This is your money to start a life here, you could use it to get information..." Jane paused as Naruto held up a hand and pointed at the email that she still had open on her arm.

"You didn't read the small print Jane-chan, that money is more the Council's attempt to shut me up and get me off the Citadel. Obviously they didn't like me helping you during their bullshit..." Jane giggled slightly as the memories of the Turian Councillor came to the forefront of her mind, Naruto lowering his hand and relaxing a little as he finished explaining.

"So me giving you the money is, in order of increasing importance; a massive 'fuck you' to the three of them for what they tried to pull on us twice; my contribution to the 'let's stop some maniac from trying to wipe out the galaxy' fund and..." Naruto paused and for the first time he looked actually uneasy with what he was going to say next.

"What is it Naruto?" The ninja seemed to wrestle with something for a moment before he smiled apologetically at her.

"An apology for effectively blackmailing the Council into promoting you into being a Spectre. Whilst it works out very well for me as I can travel the galaxy looking for my people with you, that doesn't mean that it was the right way for it to happen." Jane couldn't help but smile at the obvious awkwardness Naruto was exhibiting, it wasn't exactly as if the Council had any other choice given the circumstances anyway.

"Naruto, don't worry about it." At his slightly disbelieving look she slugged him in the arm, which to her counted as camaraderie.

"Honestly Naruto it's fine, I am some what used to getting promotions due to politics rather than merit unfortunately, I was only a squaddie when Elysium was hit and then suddenly the promotions came storming in. Even the one to the Normandy could be considered a promotion, not that I saw it that way." It was only as Naruto tilted his head in obvious confusion that Jane realised that despite his rapid acclimatisation he was still a complete novice to Galactic history and her recent role in it.

That was probably one of the reasons she found herself so comfortable with the young ninja, even if they didn't mean to, almost everyone she spoke to or worked with in the Alliance talked to her with the kind of awe that bordered on reverence. She tried not to let it piss her off but it was irritating to be held up on such a pedestal and then judged for everything she did based against that inhuman image.

A memory of a snarling Batarian stood over her father's corpse came to the fore of her mind and she shook her head to remove it even as she came to a decision. Whilst she couldn't tell Naruto about all of her past, hell even Anderson didn't know about her darkest moments, it would be better he hear what happened on Elysium from her rather than one of her admirers. Steeling her nerves, Jane began to speak.

"I suppose I should explain a little more about myself for you to understand that. It was my first tour of duty after graduating the marine academy..." Naruto turned out to be a pretty good listener despite his usually sarcastic and gobby attitude, nodding at the right moments and keeping himself to short questions about things.

Jane couldn't say it was nice to talk about it all once more, the number of reports and evaluations she had been forced to complete in the years after her rather desperate defence meant it had become almost a numbing experience. But the fact that Naruto had no preconceived notions about her, and didn't seem at all put off by the rather brutal melee combat she had resorted to when she had finally run out of ammo, was strangely calming.

Though his lack of distaste for the messiness of close quarter fighting made sense considering he came from a society that didn't know what guns were until their genocide began, so it was probably a norm for him. At the end of it Naruto shrugged, which wasn't the reaction Jane expected either way.

"As much as you probably don't want to hear this Jane-chan, that is how it always happens. If it weren't for that kind of favouritism in fact I probably wouldn't even be here..." Now that was the sort of statement which promised an interesting story, and after bearing her heart (as much as she could really imagine herself managing), Jane felt that she was owed some personal information of her erstwhile and still mysterious companion...

*line break*

Telling the tale of his graduation, with a large amount of artistic licence of course to avoid mentioning the Kyuubi, Naruto knew that he had managed to distract Jane from her own insecurities about her promotion for the time being. Whilst he and the Kyuubi had come to something of an agreement after the invasion, the fox far less keen to break out after they had seen what happened to Kirabi and the Hachibi, that didn't mean he wanted anyone to know about his major trump card until push came to 'need to annihilate a small army in a few minutes'.

So he made Mizuki out to be a simple infiltrator who had just used Naruto as the fall guy to steal village secrets for him, the Hokage promoting him despite his rather sketchy academy performance due to his parents as he had known them before they died. It wasn't entirely untrue and had been something that had plagued Naruto after Konoha had fallen, the boy struggling in the first couple of months due to his rather deficient academy lessons on things like survival skills.

If it hadn't been for people like Sakura to teach him, Naruto was sure even the Kyuubi wouldn't have been able to stop him from dying due to infection and all the other fun slow ways to die that came with living in the wild. Sarutobi in his right mind shouldn't have promoted him even with Kage Bushin to use as a massive crutch, so Naruto guessed it had to do with the Kyuubi and his parents, whose identity Jiraiya had belated revealed during one of Naruto's manic depressive stints. After beating the old sage to a pulp for not telling him sooner, which was lengthened when Jiraiya was stupid enough to mention he was also his godfather, Naruto had gone on a robot killing spree so he had time to think.

Whilst he didn't like the fact that revealing his heritage would have reversed his terrible childhood, the fact that a couple of the Iwa survivors they had managed to rescue had to be restrained from trying to kill him meant it was obviously a good decision in the greater view of things.

"Wow, I think that might be on par with my shitty teenage years, and no I don't want to talk about that." Jane's comment brought him back to the conversation that had somehow managed to make both of them talk about their past, which was something Naruto had been quite determined not to do but had failed rather spectacularly at already.

"No worries Jane-chan, I won't pry any further I promise. Now, I think... Yes, let's have another three Miso Ramen and also one of those Exotic ramen." He looked back at Jane ready to continue talking when he saw the look of shock on her face as she looked between the three already empty bowls in front of him and his stomach.

His grin widened as he recognised the look many people had given him when he was younger and had watched him eat, whilst it wasn't an important thing he still liked to think of it as a type of prank, and he always enjoyed his pranks...

After those four bowls of ramen Naruto decided to take pity on Jane and stopped there rather than blow her mind with how much he could truly eat. So after some more light hearted bantering about the bill, which Naruto liked to think he won with his query about if he paid for it would it count as a date, the meaty bruise from Jane's shocked swot to the face well worth it for the blush he managed to bring out.

The fact she felt guilty about it was definitely a bonus as his advantage would last longer than the actual damage given his healing factor, and having your effective boss feeling like she owes you something was pretty much never a bad idea. Their return to the Normandy from the presidium was interrupted by his name being called out through the rather quiet evening crowds, Naruto recognising Nirali Bhatia as she approached with a middle aged man of a similar skin complexion in close pursuit.

"Naruto, excuse me Naruto! Oh, sorry Spectre I didn't mean to interrupt your business..." Nirali had obviously not seen Jane when she had called out to him, and whilst Nirali seemed uncaring about Jane's new status the man with her gasped in slight shock before giving a bow.

Jane seemed to do her best not to get irritated at the interruption and undisguised awe from the man with Nirali and the other humans who had heard her shout. In an attempt to move the attention and conversation onwards Naruto stepped forwards between the three of them and bowed slightly to Nirali.

"Hello there Nirali-chan, I am glad to see the last of your injuries have healed up now, what can I do for you?" Nirali smiled genially at him before returning his bow, subtly elbowing the man with her into doing the same.

"I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you again for saving me on Eden Prime, with everything that is going on I didn't really get a chance. Also, this is my husband Samesh, he wanted to try and get you to talk me out of accompanying you on the Normandy as Dr Chakwas' assistant, if you will have me Spectre?" The now introduced Samesh was quick to follow up Nirali's comment, wringing his hands together anxiously as he did so.

"You're no soldier Nirali, it is bad enough you went to Eden Prime with Geth attack, until I got your message I thought I had lost you. Now you wish to join the Spectre's entourage and go back into danger? Please Spectre, can you make her see reason..." The man's impassioned plea was better than Naruto had actually expected, many people in his position would let their fears and worries turn into anger far too easily.

"I know I am no soldier, but other than Commander Shepard, Naruto here and a few others I actually have experience of dealing with the aftermath of a Geth attack! I helped both on Eden Prime and also when Dr Chakwas was dealing with the injured servicemen on the way back to the Citadel." Nirali's similarly impassioned outburst garnered even more attention than her shout of Spectre had, many people stopping and starting to listen to the unfolding argument even as Nirali continued, her voice lowering as she looked pleadingly at Jane.

"Please Spectre, after all that I have been through I want to be useful, rather than just stand aside and cower until it is too late. Given the number of Geth and the size of that ship, Eden Prime cannot be the only colony they are going to attack. I am a fully trained doctor Spectre and have high scores in basic training, it's why I was posted to Eden Prime." Nirali made a good point and no doubt there would be an awful lot of wagging tongues and extranet posts in the aftermath of this either way.

Naruto was all for Nirali joining them, she knew his secret after all so keeping her on the Normandy made tactical sense as well as her being one of his few friends thus far. Also, given the scene around them, she had just made herself a target if Saren felt like getting any more information about what happened on Eden Prime. Given the grim look on Jane's face she probably had realised the same thing.

"Mr Bhatia, I understand your concerns, but I assure you that the safest place for your wife to be during this will be on the Normandy. Based on what we know about the fugitive who is working with the Geth, he has an anti-human sentiment that means he will be wanting to target any of the survivors from Eden Prime that might have information related to him." The point made Samesh look even more anxious, and Naruto could tell he was about to become unreasonable. So in an attempt to mitigate the messy marital argument to come as well as reinforce the fake image of his honour bound sense of duty, Naruto spoke up in his best confident manner.

"Bhatia-san, your concern for your wife is touching, but she became a doctor because she wanted to help people, you can't stop her from doing that without trying to stop her being herself. And besides, she will be safe on the ship and I will keep an eye on her, she owes me for saving her life and I won't let anything happen to one of my friends." He had thought about saying something about keeping an eye on her until she could pay him back, but that wouldn't help calm Samesh down in all likelihood.

Samesh was obviously surprised by his input, no doubt due to his age more than anything else, but it seemed that it had managed to calm the man down to the point he was realising he wasn't going to win this particular fight. With the man seemingly convinced Nirali seemed much happier and they continued to talk for a few more minutes before Jane made her excuses about having to get back to the ship, which Naruto took as their cue to leave.

She did flash him a two fingered hand signal with her left hand whilst they were saying their goodbyes, which was part of the code they had been working on given his more... unique abilities. It was still fairly basic, but if Jane indicated with her left hand she was indicating a number of clones up to five that she wanted scouting the area or in this case keeping an eye of the Bhatia's. If she used her right hand then she wanted batches of 5 clones based on the number of fingers, these would be used more for straight up area denial or combat if they were alone or with those they could trust.

So as they departed, Naruto used the rather massed crowds to slip away into the side alleys and from there the higher levels of the Citadel. Now out of the way and unlikely to be spotted, Naruto formed the hand sign that was so familiar to him now it almost felt as natural as breathing. He created 20 clones, pointing at 2 of them to indicate which ones he wanted to follow the Bhatia's, the surplus clones would spread out and see if they could follow the already dispersing gossip back to anyone linked with Saren.

Not that he thought any of it would, most of the clones had only gathered information relating to various small gangs and their activities aboard the station, which he planned on compiling and giving into the Executor later. He shifted back to Jane, no one any the wiser, ready to head back to the Normandy in an attempt to get to know their new 'team'. Then suddenly an idea came to him about how to use his information, and Jane's new status, in a way that would definitely help both of them.

"Jane-taichou?" Obviously his use of the more official suffix and grin told more of a tale than he thought it would, Jane looking at him a little warily even as she replied.

"Yes Naruto?" Oh yes, Naruto was going to enjoy explaining this one...

*Line Break*

"30 crates of red sand, dozens of illegal weapons and mods, 14 smugglers and what's left of their hired muscle, the list goes on!" Yes Jane concluded, Naruto had been right when he had said that the Executor wasn't going to be happy with them, probably the reason the blonde ninja had found excuses not to be here for it.

Pallin seemed undecided between apocalyptic anger or frustrated approval of their actions, which was reasonable Jane thought with hindsight as her team had very much rocked the Citadel boat as it were. Pallin had been listing the items her teams had delivered or secured for C-Sec in what Naruto had jokingly termed 'Operation teamwork.'

Jane had to give the young man credit, he was definitely unorthodox in his ideas and they were generally very good ones. The amount of data on gangs and other criminals his small but widespread clone network had gathered was astounding and definitely gave her enough targets, but as they soon discovered that was a limiting factor in and about itself.

The sheer volume meant that Jane was quickly overwhelmed as she tried to come up with a cohesive target plan, the Naruto clones doing little to distinguish targets by importance or ease of targeting, meaning that she had tried to do it herself. Then she remembered that she had the entire bridge crew of the Normandy available to her and quickly delegated the task to them, suiting up and leading some of the ground forces in order to relieve some of the frustration the data analysis had built up.

She had Garrus lead the Alliance marines that had been seconded to her command, under the watchful eye of Kaidan so that he could evaluate his skills to make sure he would be as useful in battle as he would be as an investigator. Jane would have liked to evaluate the Turian herself, despite the Executor's very impressive report Jane was someone who liked to 'Trust, but Verify', but she was busy leading her own strike team of Ashley, Tali and 3 of the other marines.

"I am glad that you managed to keep it quiet and had Garrus leading the main team, people are thinking this is a C-Sec operation for now and I think you want to keep it that way Spectre. Especially given the carnage Uzumaki and his newest compatriot caused in the wards..." Ah yes her new clearing team, Naruto and Wrex would probably not have been most people's first choice as a small team, but she had thought that the Krogan's durability and Naruto's speed would work well together.

"In their defence Executor, there were no civilian casualties and they did clear their objectives much faster than Garrus' more conventional approach. And why would I want to keep this action a secret, allowing C-Sec to get the glory?" Executor Pallin looked torn for a moment before he replied with a resigned air that Jane was starting to notice he used a lot when she and Naruto were involved.

"Primarily because you will cause me and the Council a pyjack storm of trouble in the media if it gets out that a brand new spectre can clear up more of the citadel in one day than my men can do in a month." The idea of pissing the Council off was tempting, and it would probably get them working that little bit faster on finding leads for her if there was the implied threat she would just carry on until she had some other direction.

"And I know the Council have probably deserved whatever plot you are planning with that smirk, but I hope that you remember how helpful I have been in your previous adventures before your ascension, and therefore don't want to doom me to dealing with that beyond what you are making me sort out now."

"Ah, yeah, I would say I am sorry but I still like to think that I've done you a good turn today. If not, blame your new contractor, it was his idea." If Naruto was going to avoid this meeting, Jane was going to make sure he got at least some of the heat from it.

"No, it is true that this will make my life a little easier in the long run, and your point about Uzumaki brings me to the second reason you should let this be a C-Sec Op, and I promise that this will go a long way to levelling the field with your new employer. Have you heard of the 'Spectre assistance' section in the C-Sec codex?" Oh, well this sounded promising.

Pushing herself off the wall she had leant against during Palin's rant about the goods, Jane could smell a good negotiating opportunity arising and that brought a real smile to her face. Barter and negotiation had been the keystones in her time at the orphanage post mindoir and had served her well at the academy, she liked to think she had a knack for it that went beyond just enjoying the victory at the end.

"By all means Executor, why don't you enlighten me?" Judging by the combative grin of the Executor's own face, she wasn't the only one who was going to enjoy this...

**A/N: Yeah it is a bit of a fill chapter, but I needed it to both give a bit more development to the character's and get the team's 'First Mission' out of the way. Honestly, if I were a new Spectre and told I had to fund everything myself I would have gone to war on the Citadel underworld so fast the Council wouldn't have had time to give me my badge.**

**Jane has hit a lot of the smaller gangs on the Citadel now and whilst the illegal stuff has been handed across to Pallin (I refuse to make another cliched 'Paperwork is the bane of all life' jokes prevalent in Naruto stories now, no matter how apt.), all of the cash and anything her teams can use or sell will have disappeared back to the Normandy if at all possible.**

**A self funded Secret Agent is one who very quickly becomes a scavenger if they weren't already, especially if they want to avoid the darker root of working for other people as well as the Council.**

**Anyways, so apologies if you think this is a bit Council bashy, I have tried to tone it down a bit but Jane is more than a bit peeved at them and will be for some time. What did we all think of my reasoning behind Naruto's promotion? I think that the steepest learning curve for Naruto will have been the non-fighting parts of his time after the robot invasion, given that even in the anime he struggles with the academy field trip...**

**Thanks to PageOfMind again for his work on my previous chapters with the Betaing, but unfortunately they have had to step back, so my new beta reader is DeathKnight999, so big thanks to them for this!**


	7. Chapter 7

"100,000 credits? I can imagine the Council weren't very happy with the bill..." Naruto was leaning back against the wall in her room, having caught up with her when she returned to the Normandy from whatever business he had been busy with.

"No they weren't, but it's not like there was a lot they could do other than authorise the payment as Pallin was the one who had reported the results of 'Operation Sting' to them." So now she had more money than she had ever had before in her life, even with the outlays such as fuel and supplies to replace what was used on Eden Prime.

"And if this doesn't get them to release Saren-teme's files to us, I have some other targets for us to hit tomorrow morning, automatic data transfer my ass. Speaking of today's work..." Naruto walked forwards and held out a data pad, Jane taking it in mild confusion only to find a manifest of goods ranging from medical supplies to weapons.

"I had a bunch of henged clones follow behind me and Wrex and they took everything that wasn't nailed down..." Getting to the part where things like turret remnants were included, Jane got the feeling that Naruto was being sarcastic about the nailed part. "All of the obviously illegal stuff I handed into C-Sec, the rest is being held in your newly acquired warehouse area, one of the smugglers had the deed."

"And the warehouse owner was comfortable with you signing the deed over on my behalf without the smuggler even being charged yet?" She had a suspicion about how Naruto had pulled that off, which was confirmed when he reached up and scratched the back of his head a little awkwardly.

"Well, I might have had a clone henged as you tell him exactly what we had hit on the citadel so far, and how it would be a shame if we searched certain areas of his warehouse that I had found were owned by some of the other people we hit today... The Turian was pretty damn quick to help us sign things over after that." Shepard couldn't help but shake her head at the rather heavy handed approach Naruto had used in intimidating the warehouse owner, but it wasn't like he had done anything illegal, other than pretending to be her so that all the other illegal things became legal of course.

"Well, the smuggler will eventually petition for his damn space back, assuming he doesn't mind pissing me off to do it, but having somewhere to store things such as these in the meantime will be very useful. But seriously Naruto, I am going to need you to start telling me BEFORE you do things like this, especially if you are going to pretend to be me to do it." Jane didn't mean to be harsh with him, after all this equipment would allow her to outfit another strike force if she needed to and still increase her money by a noticeable amount.

But she needed to make sure that she wasn't going to catch any flak for what he was doing whilst he was henged as her, if the Council knew about his transformation abilities then they would probably lock him up in a dark hole and throw away the key. It bypassed most basic security on the Citadel and could allow him to incriminate almost anyone, which would doubly worry the Council given his rather cool attitude towards them.

"Hai taichou, I'm sorry. I will definitely check in with you if I can in future!" Not exactly a straight up promise but it would do for now, the results far outweighed the potential cost.

"Commander? The Council are on the line and they say it can't wait. Shall I patch them through or are you going to the meeting room for a face to face chat?" As tempting as it was to see their faces if this was the meeting she thought it was, Shepard couldn't be bothered to traipse up there for what would undoubtedly be a very short call.

"Patch them through Joker, I doubt they will be long..." And of course there was the other advantage, Jane thought to herself as she moved to her chair whose position was optimised for audio quality, a bit of back up never hurt anyone.

"Ready to go Jane-taichou?" Naruto had moved up behind her with his usual silent footstep, the young ninja obviously just as eager to hear what the Council had to offer.

Seeing the call was from three separate lines, not surprising given the time of day, Jane had an amusing if slightly unrealistic thought even as she pressed the accept button.

Would the other two believe her if she claimed she couldn't connect to the Turian Councillor due to 'technical difficulties'?

[]{}#%^*+=

"We are full Commander Shepard." The words from Pressley would probably surprise most people who had seen the Normandy, the ship whilst small for a frigate was still large enough to fit an entire marine detachment and their transports on top of it's normal loadout, it was almost the same size as the MSV Ontario that was currently floating across the readouts in front of her.

"So we have filled the cargo bay? Not surprising given that we picked up those two troop transports and several tonnes of thresher maw meat from Edolus..." It would have passed most people by that any part of a thresher maw was useful, but after an offhand comment from Wrex about the meat being a sought after Krogan delicacy, Jane had saw an opportunity.

"Not just the cargo bay, that has the transports and the light Mako you got from those pirates along with the meat and some of the weapons, but I am talking most of the rest of the space on the ship as well. I have already had to fill half the engine room and the Med-bay supply room with the weapons and other equipment that your teams have acquired, not to mention the thresher maw acid that Naruto was so determined we harvest!" Ah, so a different level of full to what she had thought he meant.

Jane wasn't really offended by the slightly accusatory tone in Pressley's voice, she had been a hoarder for years and a miser for even longer than that, the only time she let things go was for money. And if she wanted to try and justify it objectively, considering the amount of supplies that many of the Terminus pirate bases had, if she had left them there she was just facilitating another groups easy start in their shady careers.

"Back to the Citadel then Pressley. Whilst we could try one of the local colonies I think we need to get the bodies back to Kahoku as soon as possible." Pressley saluted and moved away to give Joker the new order, leaving Jane to open her own comm channel to the member of the crew that would be most likely to help her a little further.

"Garrus, can I talk to you regarding the Citadel for a minute please? Where are you based now?" The question was as much for her own benefit as it was being polite, Garrus had originally taken up residence in the cargo bay along with Ashley and Wrex, but if they were as full as Pressley was alluding to then she doubted that was still the case.

"I'm currently in the mess Commander, though Wrex wanted to talk to you about our sleeping arrangement anyway, so do you want meet us here?" Wrex had probably been much less polite about the damn thing, but Garrus was remarkably soft spoken given his dossier and experience in C-Sec.

"Of course, we are heading back to the Citadel now so that we can clear the hold sooner rather than later, but I guess this is more of a question of long term cargo space?" There was a grunt of approval, probably from Wrex, as Jane tried to think of a way round the problem.

"I will be down in a moment Garrus, I just need to contact someone with an idea I have just had..." The Ontario was slightly damaged from the Gardian laser fire used to disable its engines, and though it would be stretching things a bit thin given the Normandy was already running a light human crew, she had someone who excelled at dealing with manpower issues.

"Naruto, how do you feel about learning to crew a ship?"

[]{}#%^*+=

It had not been an easy return to the Citadel, but with Pressley piloting the Ontario and two other crew managing Naruto and his clones it had been a lot easier to pull off than she had thought it might be. Alerting the Alliance to the damage to the Ontario's engines, Jane was pleased to hear of a quick response allowing her to use one of the shipyard docks to land the Ontario for repair, whilst the Normandy landed and most of the crew were involved in unloading the various equipment and items from it.

Garrus had known exactly who they could sell most of the good weapons and armour to, C-Sec in fact as they were constantly having to obtain new equipment to replace broken, stolen or lost equipment of their own. Executor Pallin had been remarkably reasonable about the whole thing as well and Jane had walked away with a confirmation of sale and C-Sec crews already on their way to take the items away from the Normandy docks.

The thresher maw meat had been a bit more difficult to part with, taking Naruto a couple of hours to find several restaurants and bars in the lower wards that catered quite heavily towards Krogan, though once she made them aware of quite how much Thresher maw meat she had there was quite some competition between them to take it off her hands. Supposedly Thresher meat was quite hardy when it came to preservation and difficult to get hold of, so the restaurants were obviously trying to buy up the meat to give them stock for some time to come.

So she had made more than enough to pay the Alliance for the repairs to the Ontario, as another ship was very quickly agreed to be the best solution for their cargo problem, but now she had to consider getting a crew for the ship. She had asked the others and most had been unable to help, though Tali had raised the point that there were dozens of Quarians on the Citadel that would jump at the chance for work, even if it was something as menial and crewing and running a salvage ship in the wake of the Normandy.

"They have all been truthful as far as I can tell Shepard-taichou, though with their masks on all the time it would be quite hard to tell if they didn't exaggerate every little body gesture to make up for it." Which had lead to where they were now, Tali having spread the word that they were looking for a crew and would accept Quarians meant that the office Naruto had given the address for applicants to go to had been packed by the time Jane had arrived to see who had turned up.

She got the feeling that the office was probably another one of the things he had 'acquired' during his time on the Citadel, but given he hadn't told her anything about it other than it was legally rented out, Jane didn't push any harder given it meant that they didn't have to use the Normandy's hangar.

"Well I think we only need 20 to crew the ship and collect the salvage, so we are going to have to pick out the best. You and Tali got any recommendations?" Naruto nodded slowly and pointed over to a group that Tali was stood with off to one side, maybe 30 or so of them.

"Tali-chan says these ones have particular skills that you would be looking for Shepard-taichou, whilst all Quarians have experience ship side these actually served on ship crews in various fields." Jane nodded, though it did pull at her heartstrings to see so many people who were obviously so desperate for any kind of work that they responded to what was essentially a vague word of mouth job advert, especially given she would be sending most of them away without anything.

"Everyone, thank you for coming to the interviews. As we have kept you for some time, food is served! The tall blonde woman that made that announcement, who looked suspiciously like Naruto but female without the whisker marks, announced this as she and two other people brought in packs of dextro paste.

The Quarians seemed torn between caution and shock, obviously not used to this kind of hospitality from someone other than their own race. It took Tali walking forwards, and rather awkwardly feeding one of the packs into the complex apparatus that worked to move the food to her mouth without breaking sterilisation, to make the other Quarians realise that this wasn't some kind of trick.

Jane turned a knowing glance in Naruto's direction, the young man merely shrugging as the two understood exactly why he had gone out and bought enough food to feed 200 people on a whim without the need for words. Now knowing his past as an orphan, one that was not well liked if the story regarding this Mizuki was anything near the norm, Jane saw his actions in a different light.

Despite his obvious reluctance to get close to anyone other than herself, it was the things like this and when he stood in front of Tali at the Council, that revealed that despite his irritating and sarcastic humour he was not only a genocide survivor as he wanted to portray himself. Watching as he blushed and stammered a protest as Tali glomped him, the young Quarian also seemingly in on the secret of where the food had come from, Jane couldn't help but smile as a fellow orphan struggled to accept the probably unexpected affection and appreciation.

Now she knew exactly what to do the next time he tried to goad her with a comment about trying to date her...

[]{}#%^*+=

It was quiet aboard the Normandy, something Tali was still not at all used to as she walked the halls aimlessly, a mixture of excitement and longing mixing in her stomach and preventing her sleeping for the moment. The giddiness of being able to help some of her own people on their pilgrimage, even if it was only on Shepard's behalf and only 23 of them, was something that gave her a warm feeling that she really didn't want to try and shake any time soon.

Though, with that feeling came the longing that she couldn't help but feel even though it made her feel extremely guilty every time she thought about it. Despite all that Shepard had done for her in taking her on her ship and letting her be part of her team, Tali could tell that Jane didn't trust her anymore than she seemed to trust Garrus or Wrex. Whilst most Quarians weren't very good with facial expressions or body language, her father had been very insistent in her learning some psychology before leaving the flotilla and the signs were there, even if Shepard didn't realise she was doing it.

It was understandable, they had only met a week ago after all, but it was the sort of feeling that subconsciously filtered down throughout the rest of the crew. The feeling of distrust was painfully clear to her, and was one of the reasons she kept herself to engineering during the 'day' when most of the crew were active, Engineer Adams was a lot nicer to her after she helped with the engines a few times.

So now that there was another ship accompanying Shepard, crewed by her own kind who were beyond thankful at the opportunity she had offered them, Tali couldn't help but want to request permission to join them. The feeling was quickly squashed once more though, after all there were the upsides to being on a ship like the Normandy, especially given its rather exotic crew...

"Tali-chan, are you okay?" The sudden question brought Tali tumbling to a stop, both mentally and physically as the subject of her thoughts spoke to her from where he was doing pull ups on a makeshift work out area in the corner of the cargo bay.

"Ah, yes Naruto. Sorry, just lost in my thoughts..." Her subconscious must have been following her thoughts more than she could have imagined if her feet had taken her to the one place that Naruto was likely to be found.

She only hoped that he couldn't tell she was embarrassed, doing her best not to exhibit her embarrassment physically as was standard between Quarians, doing her best to think of something to talk about quickly before she got any worse.

"No need to apologise Tali-chan, I do that a lot, especially when I think about ramen..." Swinging himself forwards, Naruto let go at the apex of his swing and flipped through air and landed less than two feet of her, causing her to jump slightly in shock as he stood before smiling apologetically.

"Ah, sorry Tali-chan, I should probably have given you a little warning there..." For the second time in a minute Tali's mind stopped thinking ahead, as she couldn't stop herself taking in the image in front of her.

Stood only in a pair of standard fatigue pants, Tali could definitely say that Naruto was the most well built man she had ever seen topless this close, though a rather snide part of her brain was quick to point out he was the only man. Well defined muscles were easily visible on his stocky frame but he wasn't 'hulking' as she thought the phrase was. Her blush faded slightly when she started paying attention to the scars that littered his arms and chest, in some places there were signs of scars formed on top of other scars.

"Tali-chan? Oh right, not really used to people being bothered by this still." Stepping off to grab his plain white t-shirt, Tali mentally complained even as she did her best to recover what little composure she had left.

"So, is there anything you wanted me for Tali-chan? Or would you prefer me to leave you to it? I was done for the night now if you wanted to have a go." Tali shook her head rapidly, having seen Naruto working out in the area on several occasions there was no way she was going to embarrass herself by doing her training with him still there.

"No thank you Naruto, I don't want to try and work out this late at night, would probably mean I would be awake all night. I just wanted to thank you for helping my people today with the Ontario, I know most people would have tried to get a human crew instead. I will just go and work on Chatika a little more." A good save rather than the real reason, but the frown that crossed Naruto's face implied she hadn't pulled it off as well as she would like to think she had.

"Ano, but shouldn't you work on your close quarter skills as well Tali-chan? What happens if someone catches you unarmed and too close for you to sabotage them?" Whilst normally Tali would have taken offence at what was an insinuation that Naruto thought she would be useless in close combat, she had talked to Wrex after their mission on the Citadel and knew that even the veteran Krogan approved of the young man's martial abilities, which was a big compliment from a Krogan.

"I-I would keep them busy until I made enough space to draw my weapon or sabotage them without being caught in the blast radius..." Not the most confident of answers, and being honest with herself Tali knew that if she got into a melee with anyone that had more than a modicum of melee ability, the chances of her getting out of that fight alive, let alone without suit damage, were very low indeed.

"Show me then." Gone was the cheerful expression and relaxed postured, Naruto sliding into a stance she didn't recognise with a deadpan look of concentration on his face.

"But Naruto..." She didn't get any further than that, Naruto moving quickly forwards and throwing a left jab at her face.

It was obvious that he was holding back considerably, the stiffness of his body showing that it wanted to move faster and that he was doing his best to hold it in check, but Tali still only just managed to bring her arm up to block the attack. Even with Naruto pulling his punches her arm smarted as Naruto shifted once more, speaking to her as he went to another attack.

"Your legs are too close together, widen your stance to help with the stability of your defence." It took Tali a moment to realise he was being serious, ducking a roundhouse kick that would have taken her straight out of the fight if it had connected before she did so, smiling to herself despite the situation as Naruto nodded approvingly.

"Do not block attacks if at all possible, deflect or avoid the attack all together to throw your opponent off balance..." And so she ducked and dodged as best she could, though there were still far to many attacks that she had been forced to block, the aching in her arms and legs smarting every time she moved even as Naruto eventually got her to switch to offense, blocking each and everyone of her attacks like it was the easiest thing in the world.

She didn't know quite how long they were at it, not having had her HUD display on in order to conserve her suits energy, but by the end of it she was drenched in sweat and aching from every joint. Despite this though, she felt happy for the first time that evening, as Naruto relaxed and smiled approvingly at her.

"Well done Tali-chan, you have improved significantly there." The warm feeling that had first appeared when Naruto had stepped in to defend her from the council resurfaced at the smile. And even though Tali wasn't sure that she would actually be able to make it back to her bunk, she knew she would sleep well tonight.

And perhaps, as much as her body was already complaining at the idea, she would see if she could turn this into a more regular training session. After all, a few bruises and aching muscles would be totally worth it if somebody did ever try and take her on in close combat only for her to surprise them with her new skills.

That, and another chance to hang around with Naruto wasn't something she would pass up if she could avoid it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry, another filler chapter. I know I know, but I think I needed to develop this Naruto a little more, as well as introduce interaction with Tali-chan. I have tried to make her into a little more than a stuttering apologising naive girl which is how she is portrayed in quite a few fics. She does get flustered, and that is one of the things I love about her, but it's not the only thing that defines her.
> 
> Also, if you have read Medic Effect, you will see that I have taken my idea of a salvage ship from there. So apologies if it is not original, but I like to think I have taken it in a different way.
> 
> Finally, I have rewritten the first chapter of Uzumaki Guardian as I wanted to put a bit more long term plot in there.
> 
> Let me know what you think guys!


	8. It still only counts as one!

"Jane-taichou, I don't want you to take this the wrong way..." Naruto was forced to pause his attempt at conversation, as the world hadn't quite stopped spinning enough for him to be comfortable talking, unless he wanted possible throwing up to go with it.

"What's the matter, your first vehicle combat mission too much for you?" Jane's grin as she exited the mako did nothing to improve Naruto's mood.

"No, the geth I could handle, even those big walker things of theirs. What came far closer to killing me was... Well I wouldn't call it driving, as I'm sure even I could do better than that, and I've never been behind the wheel before." That comment, which he had to admit was more cutting than usual even for him, merely caused Jane to chuckle before indicating around her.

"You are more than welcome to walk next time Naruto, and besides, you don't see Wrex or Tali complaining..." There was a disgruntled bark from the Krogan warlord even as he debunked from the mako and shook his head repeatedly.

"I wasn't complaining as I think near death situations are good for the soul, though I will admit that's the most roughed up I have been since that time on Omega, ahh good times. And the little one isn't complaining because she knows if she does open her mouth she will vomit. And trust me, cleaning vomit from the inside of your suit is not a 'fun' job." The fact that Wrex only tended to find fighting, training and well... fighting fun was usually meant his opinions on matters were usually defunct, but as Tali's upper body flopped out of the mako and she looked in their direction with a rather pitiful moan.

"Keelah, why are we still spinning?" After a few moments more she seemed to regain enough awareness to actually get fully out of the Mako, though her footing was still a little unsteady as she dropped down next to Naruto, who quickly grabbed her arm to help her stabilise.

"And Wrex, why am I the little one? Naruto is smaller than me!" Tali was obviously trying to distract herself from her queasiness, but Naruto still gave her a playful jab with his elbow as Wrex chuckled before pointing at Naruto.

"That's because he can take out three armed men with just his fists, that's the kind of person you don't want to call little... Not to his face anyways." The three of them chuckled before Jane coughed in warning.

"That will do, let's get up to the ruins as fast as we can, the Geth are here so we don't know what we are going to face. Naruto, I want you to scout ahead, do not engage unless you are sure you can handle it quietly." Naruto nodded, catching the instruction not to use clones unless he had to, Jane clenching her fists as she spoke to relay the message. Whilst there were a few people who knew the extent of his abilities, the less he showed them off the better.

"Hai Jane-taichou!" And with that he was off, moving lightly up the ravine path as the others carried on speaking, stopping when he was out of sight to activate the most useful jutsu Ero-sennin had taught him.

The transparency jutsu was technically only classed as a D-rank jutsu, but Ero-sennin had modified his version of it substantially to aid in his peeping, and it was the modifications that deadened sounds and cloaked the body's heat signature that made it so useful against the metal men. Naruto hadn't tested it on the Geth yet, but as he rounded the next turn and came almost face to face with a Geth trooper, positioned there as some kind of sentry no doubt.

Given the lack of reaction as Naruto stopped in his tracks and fell into a fighting stance, the trooper hadn't seen him, so Naruto crept round the back of the trooper before summoning his spear. Fast movements dispelled the technique, which was why Ero-sennin was usually caught after someone got suspicious, and summoning Kushina from his seals caused the jutsu to fail in a similar manner.

The trooper didn't notice though, allowing Naruto to prepare himself, before impaling the trooper through the back of the head with a single stroke. The Geth collapsed with a clunk, Naruto quickly resealing Kushina and reactivating the transparency jutsu, moving on quickly to check that there were no other Geth in the area that might come and investigate the sound. Luckily no one seemed to have noticed, So Naruto reached up to his ear to report in.

"Jane-taichou, they had a guard set just up the path, it's down but from the looks of things I doubt that is the last of them. Moving up to find the camp." Jane was smirking, he could tell that even when he wasn't able to see her face he could tell.

"It's almost like they knew we were coming... Good work Naruto, keep us informed." Resisting the urge to growl at his commander's tone, Naruto merely carried moving forwards up towards the plateau their intel highlighted as being the research camp they were hoping to find Benezia's daughter.

He dealt with two more Geth, who were waiting near the top of the ravine path in obvious position for an ambush, before reaching the top. The camp was slightly downhill from where he had emerged, amidst the two story ruins which had been the original find, allowing him to assess what was waiting for them before the others arrived. Creeping forwards, Naruto counted at least a dozen geth soldiers, stood around corpses of what must have been the research team.

"Shepard-taichou, I am at the camp..." Naruto paused as his sixth sense twinged a moment before his ears picked up a scrabbling sound.

It took a moment, far too long given his past, but Naruto realised a little too late that the sound was coming from above him. Throwing caution to the wind, Naruto leapt backwards despite the fact doing so would blow his cover, but was just a fraction of a second too slow. The bright red laser slammed into his armour, bypassing his shields like they weren't even there, his dodge meaning that he only caught half of the beam as the rest burnt a hole in the ground.

"They've spotted me, don't know how but I am pulling back, keep an eye up high people!" Naruto didn't turn back to try and spot his attacker, too busy dodging and ducking around the fire that quickly began to strafe him from the other geth in the area, the Geth dropship that had been plaguing them since their arrival on Therum appearing on the horizon several moments later.

"Naruto, status report, given the drop ship and the weapons fire we can hear, you've kicked the hornet's nest this time. Are you safe?" The concern in Jane's voice was touching given her general blasé attitude, but Naruto had bigger things to think about at that moment, making it into cover by the ravine entrance just in time, left arm in agony from where the laser had hit him.

"Just fucking peachy, I always enjoy getting shot and then having a tank get dropped in on my position, so the sooner you guys get here the sooner we can start the party!" He knew he would probably regret the sarcasm and potty mouth later, but when living with a bunch of seasoned ninja, swearing was the best possible vice he could have picked up.

The tank he was referring to was another one of those geth walkers, the massive contraption rearing up in it's now familiar manner to rain plasma upon what little cover he had. Leaping up, Naruto shifted away from the area the others would be arriving from into some of the ruins, hopefully this would prevent them from being pinned down.

"2 minutes out Naruto, just keep yourself alive understand? We can talk about embarrassing Tali with your language, and how you are going to make it up to her later..." There was a muffled exclamation, probably from Tali about Shepard's comment, which actually distracted Naruto from the pain slightly as he ducked under the ball of plasma that had just erupted from the walker in front of him.

Drawing one of his pistols as he heard the light skittering noise above him again, Naruto's paranoia proved spot on as he saw a grey skinned Geth clamber round the corner on the ceiling, eye stalk glowing in the same shade of red as the laser that had injured him earlier. With Naruto knowing it was coming now, the shot was relatively easy to dodge, leaving the thing attempting to backpedal rapidly away from him.

Raising the pistol with a smirk on his face, naruto couldn't help but feel a little vengeful, but that was alright in his book. People who were vengeful usually had the best arcs in the anime that he had read as a child, so that meant he was just becoming that little bit more awesome right?

!"£$%^&*()

"Damn Naruto, you really were not happy with these guys were you?" By the time she and the others had made it to the top of the canyon the fighting had been pretty much over, only the Geth walker still standing as Naruto flitted from cover to cover firing potshots at it with his pistols.

"You have one of them sneak up on you and shoot you in the back Jane-taichou, I assure you it will do wonders for your outlook on the situation." Jane couldn't help but smile at her subordinate's acerbic reply, stress really did bring out a different person from underneath that charismatic and friendly front that he put up to everyone, she found she rather enjoyed the difference.

"You did this whilst injured? You keep impressing me human, though I suppose your regeneration and back up organs helped..." Wrex's comment would have gotten some odd looks from the other three if they hadn't been advancing forwards whilst firing on the walker, so instead there was just an awkward silence for a few moments before Jane decided she should clear up the confusion.

"Wrex, human's don't have defunct organs or fast regeneration..." The Krogan warlord paused behind a rock and looked around at the half a dozen Geth corpses, confusion shifting to delight a moment later, raising himself over the top of the rock to utilise his shotguns 'carnage' ability at the walker.

"Oh, that just makes things even better. No more 'scouting' brat, you and I are going to have a proper contest..." As Wrex vaulted the cover and charged towards the now beleaguered walker, Jane realised that this contest was probably linked to levels of devastation and kill-counts, meaning that these ruins would probably not survive the coming onslaught.

Then she thought about it for a moment and grinned to herself, looking round the camp at all the leftover supplies and geth parts even as the Walker keeled over from Wrex body slamming into one of it's legs. Let the boys have their fun for now, there were other things she could focus on instead.

"Shepard to the Normandy. I want you to come into atmosphere and provide cover whilst the Ontario collects the Geth salvage we have built up, along with any other useful items they find along the way. You will need to send Beta team to collect the Mako, as we've left it at the bottom of the hill the camp is on, we will proceed inside to grab the target, assuming that Naruto and Wrex didn't end up trying to off her to finish their competition."

"Competition Commander?" Jane looked over to where Wrex had just blasted the walker repeatedly in the eye, even as it tried to stand before falling limply to the ground, Naruto having moved on towards the entrance to the ruins with Tali following somewhat confusedly behind.

"Probably better if you don't ask Joker..." Naruto gunned down the first Geth who tried to exit the ruins, shouting something to Wrex that she didn't quite hear, but the Warlords roared reply was almost terrifying.

"What do you mean it only counts as one?!"

!"£$%^&*

"Hello, can you hear me out there? I am trapped and need help." Naruto had seen her long before he had gotten close enough for her to call out to him, half a dozen of his clones hidden along the walls of the large cavern they had descended into just in case of a trap, his gaze settling on her and confirming that this was indeed their target.

"Dr T'soni-san I presume? A good idea with the shield, these Geth haven't been much fun to deal with..." Having cleared the Geth in the camp with a rather hurried and judicious use of clones, Naruto had not expected or enjoyed the following contest with Wrex, the Krogan quickly catching up to his 'score' in the dark tunnels.

The Krogan seemed to enjoy the contest even if Naruto was severely restricted in what he could do, and the Geth had been much less of a problem once the Krogan had waded into them. Satisfied that the team would distract the remaining Geth, Naruto had slipped off despite Wrex's protests, though the Krogan was placated by the opportunity to kill most of the remaining Geth himself. Judging by the large piece of equipment the Geth had been moving into position, Naruto had been right to move ahead, dealing with them had been easy even when concealing his chakra powers.

"This" Dr T'soni made a slight indication to the way her body seemed to be fixed in place in the air. "This wasn't actually the idea, it seems to be some kind of Prothean security device, must have activated when I activated the barrier to protect myself..." To Naruto's slight surprise Dr T'soni seemed more curious about her situation than concerned or worried, her face similar to when Naruto had asked Sakura or one of the others a question they had to think about before answering.

"Well Dr T'soni, I think we can have a look at how it works later, let me just let the rest of my team know I have found you..." The Asari didn't even react, obviously still mulling over her thoughts on the security system, so Naruto activated his comms unit.

"Jane-taichou I have found T'soni-san, if you can stop Wrex from just trying to kill everything that moves and head back to the fork where I left you, I have marked the path and made sure there are no active Geth..." Using clones to map out the ruins had been far quicker than trying to do it by himself, it was just common sense.

"Very good Naruto, Wrex just found a larger red one to play with but I am sure he will be finished with it soon. Is Dr T'soni unharmed?" The unspoken question of whether she had been working with or hiding from the Geth went unsaid.

"She is currently stuck in some kind of stasis... thing behind an energy barrier taichou, the Geth were trying to break into where she currently is but hadn't succeeded from what I could tell..." The lack of descriptive words Naruto had for what he was seeing was really starting to annoy him, and he resolved to find a dictionary and see if it could help improve his word range.

"Okay Naruto, we are on our way, keep an eye out for any stragglers." Naruto chuckled as he heard Wrex shout something in the background of Shepard's line, but the Krogan didn't come on to tell Naruto what he had said.

"Oh, I am sorry, I got a little distracted... The Geth! You must be careful out there, I was just doing some investigation when the warning of a Geth attack came from the camp. I hid in here and activated the barriers before they got down here, I knew the barriers would keep them out. But the Geth! Beyond the veil? Can you believe it?" Naruto nodded to himself even as he considered his reply, her excitement was too genuine and too out of the blue for her to know what the Geth had done on Eden Prime, meaning that it was becoming beyond unlikely that she was linked with her mother and Saren.

"I can believe it T'soni-san, I have killed 37 of them to reach you. I would also advise you do not show such excitement when Jane-taichou gets here, the Geth attacked a planet called Eden Prime which we helped clear before coming here, a lot of humans died in the attack..." The look of anguish that entered Liara's face was so genuine that Naruto actually felt bad for his blunt warning.

"I-I apologise, I did not mean to be excited at the Geth's actions, it is just a wonderful scientific opportunity to learn about a race that haven't left the Perseus Veil in over 300 years. And may I ask, what is your name human? And please call me Liara, nobody has referred to me by my surname in several decades..." Naruto was still getting used to the idea that some of the races in the galaxy considered a period equal to a human's life expectancy to the equivalent of a short period of time, managing to focus on her question instead.

"The name is Uzumaki Naruto Liara-san, and I am sure that given the number we have taken down so far you can join Tali-chan in investigating the remains. But first I think Jane-taichou will have some questions for you when she gets here, so how do I turn this barrier off so I can come give you a hand?" Liara looked at him in confusion for a moment before tilting her head to indicate an interface on the inside of the barrier.

Ah, that could be slightly more problematic than Naruto had anticipated... No matter, just because the Geth hadn't been able to work out a way in didn't mean he couldn't!

His optimism lasted until Jane and the others arrived, the only progress he had made was working out that he really didn't want to try and force his way through the barrier physically. He could have probably used the body replacement jutsu with a clone, but he didn't want to reveal his abilities, especially given Liara's fascination with new technology/races she didn't yet understand.

"No luck Naruto?" Jane's question prompted a subconscious growl of frustration from him, he would have had a much easier time if he could just use some jutsu.

"No Jane-taichou, though Liara-san does tell me that the thing a couple of floors down that the Geth were trying to set up is a 'mining laser'? Not quite sure what that is exactly, but she seems pretty sure that it should work." Jane looked at him for a moment before gesturing to Wrex and Tali.

"You two go and secure the mining laser whilst I have a chat with Dr T'soni, Naruto can make sure there are no stragglers following us up." Wrex grouched about interrupting his contest again, but moved off a moment later with Tali in his wake.

"I don't know what Naruto has told you yet, but I am Commander Jane Shepard of the Council Spectres, in pursuit of a rogue Spectre by the name of Saren who has allied with the Geth to bring about the return of a race called the Reapers. Your mother is known to be working with him, and given the Geth attack on your dig site and their efforts to get through to you, you are obviously involved in all this somehow. The only question is, which side?" Naruto was always slightly surprised when Jane put her 'work face' on, but Liara seemed more confused than anything else, which made sense with what he had gleaned from their interactions thus far.

"I am not on anybody's side, I have no idea what you are talking about. I haven't spoken to Benezia in years, decades in fact. We are nothing alike! I promise I know nothing of what she is up to, please just get me out of here." Nothing deceitful in her tone of voice, though body language was hard to discern when she could only move her head, Naruto giving a small nod when Jane glanced at him to give his taciturn support.

It's not as if he wouldn't be keeping an eye on her all the time anyway, and given his particular set of skills, Naruto was sure if she did turn out to be a plant then he would catch misdeeds quickly enough.

"Very well, since Naruto believes you I will do so as well. Naruto, would you be able to get inside without us needing the mining laser?" That sort of question meant that Jane was giving him permission to use his abilities if he needed to, though Naruto was still wary of showing off too many skills.

"Hai, I think I do..." Disappearing from Liara's sight by taking a few quick steps to the left, Naruto motioned for one of his hidden clones to try and Kawarimi into the room. The clone performed the seal, and then there was a small thud as the loose debris he had seen inside the room landed where the clone had been hidden.

Jumping up to where the clone had been, so as to avoid the eventual questions of how there were two of him hanging around, Naruto activated his comm so that he could speak just to Shepard.

"Jane-taichou, my clone is inside the tower and I will switch with him if the opportunity arises, hopefully Liara-san can walk him through deactivating that shield. Otherwise, we might need that mining laser after all..."

!"£$%^&*

"Surrender, or don't. That would be more fun." Jane shook her head, the day had been long enough as it was without the bloodthirsty Krogan and his Geth sidekicks trying to spoil the end of it.

"I don't think so, you see, the good doctor doesn't seem happy to see you and I really do not have time for this." In fact, Jane was surprised to see the previously passive and polite Asari look positively murderous at the sight of the Krogan, bionics flaring slightly as she spat out a reply of her own.

"You killed Sierra and Falx in front of me monster!" The Krogan just shrugged at the aggression as several more Geth flitted into the room.

"You wouldn't come out, I tried to persuade you, not my problem. Saren wants you though, and what Saren wants, he gets." Obviously that line was meant to be witty/intimidating, but the attempted effect was lessened by an argument Jane could hear getting louder from behind her.

"He should be worth at least 5, he is the obvious leader of this entire group..." Naruto's rather loud comment drew everyone's attention even as Wrex snorted and shook his head.

"If the walker only counts as one, he only counts as one, you can't have it both ways brat. Besides, he looks rather wimpy for Krogan in all honesty." That caused the other Krogan to growl at the insult, gesturing to the surrounding Geth.

"Kill them all, spare the..." The Krogan didn't get any further as he was hit by twin carnage rounds from Wrex and Shepard, staggering back just in time to catch Naruto barrelling into him with full force. The Geth raised their weapons but Wrex was already amongst them, Krogan strength and body weight sending one group to the ground whilst the other was being pelted by Tali and Liara.

Discharging her shotgun into a Geth trooper who hadn't made it into cover yet, blowing the thing backwards off the edge of the damaged platform, Shepard saw Naruto fire three more rounds from his shotgun into the prone Krogan before moving off to flank the remaining Geth. Even without his abilities, the young man was doing remarkably well considering the technological disadvantages he had, though his reflexes definitely helped.

"47 Wrex! And there are only four left so you can't catch up!" Jane's admiration of the ninja's maturity dropped slightly at the obvious provocation, shouldering her weapon as an enraged Wrex barreled into two of the remaining enemies, she really didn't want to end up catching the fallout from Wrex having lost the contest he had devised...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Therum's done, with a few minor tweaks here and there before the obviously quite different ending. What Therum's Prothean ruins contain could be quite an interesting side plot to pursue at some later stage, but I won't give it too much of a highlight for now.
> 
> Liara is quite the polarising figure for me, I really liked her in ME 1, and at parts during ME 3. But in ME 2 she was a little too different for my liking, maybe it is just me. But in this, the whole experience of the attack has been a bit darker, I wouldn't put it past the Krogan thinking that Liara needed 'motivation' to come out.
> 
> Let me know what you think guys! Reviews are greatly appreciated and let me know that my reader care... :P


	9. A test of endurance

"You do realise the armour is probably worse off than I am right? And stop with the damn needles woman!" Naruto knew that he could probably be a little less bratty about the whole thing, after all he had been shot and this was the ship's doctor, but in his opinion he didn't need the attention.

After the fall of Konoha medics and other medical staff had been in short supply, and given his regeneration ability Naruto had always been the one to volunteer out of treatment whenever there had been combat or other medical injuries and illnesses that had arisen, his preference that medics spent their time looking after others less fortunate than him a little hard for him to shake. The fact that he wasn't particularly fond of needles, of any form, after the battle in Wave with Haku definitely had nothing to do with it... Honest.

"Just because your surface wounds have healed, which is still very impressive given the short time span, doesn't mean that your health and general well being should not be fully investigated Mr Uzumaki. We have no records to go off in regards to your 'unique' make-up, so it would be best if I created some now, rather than if you do get seriously injured and I have to guess at how to treat you!" The words were stern and made it very clear that Dr Chakwas was not going to take no as an answer, Naruto's sigh of defeat getting a laugh from Shepard as she watched the little exchange from her desk.

They were performing the check up in Shepard's room for two reasons; firstly because it was a secure location that they could talk about Naruto freely without any of the others hearing under the guise of a debrief from Shepard; and also so that they could sort out the aftermath of the council report at the same time. The Council had tried to insist that Shepard use the conference room to contact them, but given that was now where she was bunking Garrus and Wrex as well as to put her foot down with them, Shepard insisted that an audio conference in her office was not only easier but more secure now.

"You better not let any of the Council hear about how easily Dr Chakwas can win arguments with you Naruto, they might try and hire her off of us to act as their ambassador solely to you. Though given how impressed they were with our mission I don't think we need to worry about that for the time being, even the Turian couldn't find anything to complain about and make it stick." Not for lack of trying of course.

Everything ranging from the deaths of the rest of the dig team to Liara not being handed over to the Council in chains had been brought up by the prickly representative, Shepard listening with amusement as the Asari line went mute for a couple of minutes and then the Turian stopped being so blatant with his attempts to sabotage her, obviously the level headed ones in the Council were trying to avoid antagonising her if they could help it.

"We will obviously have to cause them some more trouble in the future Jane-chan, can't have them thinking we will be good little minions all of the time..." Jane's grin widened slightly and Naruto responded in kind, he had to admit he had been damn lucky to have ended up being woken up when he had been, if he had been stuck with someone like Kaidan as a leader he would probably have mutinied by now.

"Given it is you Naruto, I don't think we will need to try very hard. Speaking of potential trouble, how is Liara doing?" Naruto thought for a moment, reviewing what the clone he had following Liara had sent him when it had dispersed.

"It's only been a few hours Jane-chan, she has been resting in the Med-bay, given that she had been in that barrier for a couple of days I doubt that she will be doing anything else in the near future. Pressley is watching the data streams from the access port you have given her, if she does go on the extranet for any reason we will know, though I imagine he does the same for all of us non-Alliance personnel." His educated guess barely fazed Jane, who shrugged unapologetically at him before smiling once more.

"Standard procedure, especially given the nature of the Normandy. Command are creating non-disclosure agreements for all of you, which I imagine will cause Tali to become quite the annoyance when she hears about it, but this is experimental and classified technology so I think we can talk her round." Naruto winced as he already knew where this was heading.

"And by 'we' you mean 'I' will talk Tali-chan round? Do you not like me all of a sudden Taichou? Don't forget I am one of those non-Alliance members you are meant to be watching after all, what would command say if they heard I was doing your negotiations for you?" His ploy to get out of being the messenger nearly worked, Jane's face shifting to her deep thought expression for a few seconds before the proverbial light bulb came on and she glared at him half-heartedly.

"Nice try Naruto, but you are still talking to her, she has certainly gelled with you a lot better than she has the rest of the human crew. You can make it clear it's from me of course, but I think it will be better coming from you." Naruto nodded, the logic was sound even if he didn't like the end result.

"Hai Jane-chan, when the doctor has finished trying to kil-I mean heal me I will go talk to her, we are due another training session as it is." The fact that Tali had approached him about further close combat training really pleased Naruto, he rather liked the shy Quarian, and he also found he rather enjoyed teaching as well.

"Well, despite the fact that your ungratefullness makes me want to run another batch of tests just to annoy you, I think I am done for now. So, you are free to go, though if I hear any more whining the next time you are in my care, I will start on the invasive diagnostic tests..." Damn, Dr Chakwas was scary when she wanted to be, Naruto quickly deciding it was best to give up the fight rather than risk the veteran doctor actually trying to go through with her threat.

"Hai, hai, I will be good." Naruto did his best to ignore Jane's continued chuckles as he stood and made his way to the door.

Now he just had to find Tali-chan to arrange the training without Wrex finding out and trying to join in...

!"£$%^&*(

It was quiet aboard the ship, something Liara greatly appreciated as opposed to the the much more crowded and raucous atmosphere she had often experienced whilst travelling with Benezia in her youth. The quiet allowed her to think without distraction, and thinking was something she had been doing ever since she had been brought aboard the human ship 2 days before.

Whilst young for her kind, Benezia had raised her to be methodical and calculating in everything she did and Liara had found at least one of those things to be useful enough to keep after finally managing to move away from her and onto her own things. Certainly her logical approach had helped in persuading the Salarian in charge of the dig on Therum to allow her to be a part of the team, though given what happened that could be taken as both a good and a bad thing.

' _I would also advise you do not show such excitement when Jane-taichou gets here, the Geth attacked a planet called Eden Prime which we helped clear before coming here, a lot of humans died in the attack...'_ The words of young human soldier who had found and rescued her came to the forefront of her mind, something they had been doing a lot since they boarded the ship as she tried her best not to think about the rest of her captivity or the actions of the Krogan who had come with the Geth.

She knew she probably owed him an apology for her ill choice of enthusiasm and words, he didn't seem to have mentioned them to his boss despite the fact that they could be taken as her supporting the Geth, though she had been umming and arring about how to do it. Human culture was something she was not particularly experienced in, having devoted herself to her Prothean research before humans even existed to the Council races, and the extranet videos she had watched whilst she recovered hadn't helped much.

"Dr T'soni?" Drawn from her thoughts by someone speaking behind her, Liara turned around hastily, how had she been so distracted that she hadn't noticed someone come in?

"Oh I am sorry, Tali wasn't it? I am afraid I was lost in my thoughts and didn't hear you come in. What can I do for you?" The Quarian girl didn't seem too bothered by her social awkwardness, thank the goddess, her posture relaxed and friendly even as she replied.

"Not a problem, you have had a lot to think about I am sure. I was just here to offer a tour of the ship, from the sounds of it you are going to be here a while, it certainly helped me settle in a little when I joined up." It was something that Liara had been wondering, how there were a group of aliens aboard a very human spaceship, but she had merely put it down as a spectre thing until now.

"A tour? Are you sure that would be okay? I mean, given the Commander's concerns..." Jane Shepard, the first human Spectre, would normally have been a piece of living history that Liara would be dying to meet.

The woman had been very... professional but Liara could tell she didn't trust her and probably wouldn't for some time to come. In fact, Liara was surprised she didn't have a guard following her at all times, she knew her extranet activity was being monitored and approved given how long some of the loading times were after all.

"Naruto has given you the all clear, and if he believes you so will Shepard even if it is just provisionally, I just would make sure not to prove either of them wrong in that belief..." The young human had such sway over a Spectre?

She knew that Commander Shepard had checked her initial story with him before letting him out, and from what he said he had very good people reading skills, but she had barely spoken to the man since then. Such a level of trust made her wonder if she had significantly underestimated the man, perhaps his claim about the number of Geth he had killed hadn't been an idle boast.

"Surprising isn't it? Though when you get to know him a little better, I think you will come to understand why, despite how he acts he is quite brilliant in his own way. Now, shall we?" Obviously her thoughts had been easier to read than Liara thought, a small blush rising on her face as she chose to ignore the first question and nod to the second, not trusting her voice in case she said something that could be interpreted badly.

"You're too kind Tali-chan, though it's not going to get me to go any easier on you in training later." The rather amused voice of the subject of their conversation from behind Tali made both of them freeze up, though Liara was very glad she hadn't said anything now as she would probably be as embarrassed as Tali was.

"Naruto, what have I told you about sneaking up on me?" Embarrassment was quick to turn into outrage for the Quarian as she turned to face the new arrival, who seemed content just to ignore the hostility with his usual warm smile.

"Doesn't matter, Jane-taichou has said that the ground teams all need awareness training given the appearance of these new Geth, if they can sneak up on me they can definitely do the same to the rest of you." Liara didn't know which 'new' Geth type they were talking about, but she assumed it was an infiltrator/assassin class if it was using stealth.

"Sorry Mr Uzumaki, I didn't manage to get your rank before so I hope I don't sound rude, are you here to escort us on the tour?" This made more sense than just having two aliens walking a human ship by themselves, though Liara was surprised when Naruto shook his head with a small laugh.

"Call me Naruto Liara-san, I don't think my rank would translate very easily. I was actually on my way here from Jane-taichou, to ask if you were still serious about wanting to join the ground teams?" The fact that Naruto added small words after everyone's names still confused Liara, especially given that none of the other humans seemed to do it, but the fact that he was hear about her admittedly on the spot offer was surprising.

"Well, yes, if the commander will have me I would prefer to be doing something useful rather than stuck hiding on a ship out of harm's way. I thought the others were against it, saying that I didn't have any military training..." Naruto nodded and gestured out of the room.

"You will have to come meet Nirali-chan Liara-san, I think you and her would get along very well. And actually the other's concerns are the reason I am here, Jane-taichou has asked me to check your basic fitness and combat skills, if I think they are good enough then there will be no problem." Liara couldn't help but grin at the opportunity to prove herself, as well as in thanks to Naruto for doing this for her, she had to admit there were not many that would even entertain the possibility of allowing a civilian to fight with them.

"And don't worry about it too much, as Tali-chan is also a civilian, she will be doing the training with you." Normally the possibility of having someone else there would be good news, as it meant she wouldn't be the only one embarrassed by whatever training she was put through, but judging by Tali's sudden stiffening and nervous posture Liara couldn't help but feel even more ill at ease.

"Naruto, you've already seen me work remember, I am sure you don't need me to do an actual training course beyond our normal training..." Naruto's grin, along with Tali's rapid attempt to excuse herself, turned her ill at ease into actual concern.

By the goddess, what was she getting herself into?

!"£$%^&*(

"And just a few more laps!" Tali didn't ever think she could hate Naruto, not after he saved her life and helped her integrate herself into the crew, but as the boy turned around jogging on the spot in front of them, she found herself remarkably close to crossing that line.

The training he had put her and Liara through had been absolutely gruelling, making their close combat sessions look like a breeze in comparison, her lungs on the verge of pulling her suit's air filter down her throat with the large ragged breaths she was being forced to take. She was doing better than Liara though, obviously the young Asari had spent more time looking through dossiers and examining artefacts than training, bent double as she attempted to try and draw precious air into her lungs once more.

"Naruto, that is enough." The call from the entrance to the cargo bay, which had been converted into an impromptu assault course, alerted Tali to the presence of the rest of Shepard's team.

Keelah, if things weren't embarrassing enough with them not completing the training course, everyone had turned up to watch as well. Naruto nodded, the boy barely even sweating, before going over to grab a couple of bottles of water from near the start line of the assault course.

"They've passed taichou, certainly most of the academy graduates from when I graduated would have struggled to keep up with me for that long." The news surprised and cheered up Tali, she had honestly thought given Naruto's lack of exertion that they had failed, something that Ashley was quick to bring up.

"But you don't even look like you were trying Naruto, are you sure that you haven't gone easy on them?" Ashley had been the most vocal in her concerns about the pair of them, Tali would've taken offence at that if she didn't know it was more about concern for their safety on the field than any kind of superiority complex.

"Ashley-chan, I don't think you could even make me work up a sweat before you passed out, though I am more than willing if you wish to try..." There was silence for a moment, even Tali had caught the possible double meaning to that sentence and she was glad of her mask as the blood rushed back to her face, Naruto merely stood with a cheeky smile that made it clear he knew exactly how it sounded.

Ashley seemed unsure whether to blush or get angry, which probably wasn't helped by Kaidan and Wrex's laughter from behind them. The commander merely chuckled for a moment before speaking.

"I assume this was you taking it easy on them then? Perhaps you can run us through the advanced course then whilst Tali and Liara rest, we can run them through gun drills when we get back to the Citadel." The laughter stopped abruptly as Naruto's smirk returned full force, Garrus looking a little uneasy even as Naruto started moving around to alter some of the setup pieces of equipment.

"Commander, are you sure this is necessary? We are due into the Citadel in a few hours..." Jane Shepard, Spectre and hero of the human Alliance, merely grinned at the Turian's attempted excuse, and suddenly Tali got the rather smug feeling that she might yet come out best in this encounter.

"I am sure a little training won't do you any harm Garrus, I did promise the Executor that I would ensure you remained in peak physical condition after all. Now, let's start up with a gentle warm up." Tali was distracted by Naruto appearing next to her, having just helped move the almost comatose Liara off to the side, gladly accepting his offer of a shoulder to help her shuffle off to where a small bed was set up amongst all the crates.

"Nearly there Tali-chan, you did very well today, much better than I was expecting. Now you get to watch this lot have a go, 10 credits if I can make one of them cry..." Tali smiled at his obvious attempt to distract her from her aching muscles, though she waved Naruto off when he tried to sit her down on the bed, running through a set of stretching exercises he had taught her, if she didn't finish properly she wouldn't be able to walk in a few hours.

"Thanks Naruto, though I will almost definitely hate you tomorrow for this, keelah I am going to have to find a Quarian spa to get rid of all this sweat..." Originally upon joining the Normandy Tali would have been horrified to have said such a personal thing in front of someone, whether she knew them or not, but Naruto had a way of making her comfortable with being honest about things.

"Well if you want a massage Tali-chan, that will probably help your muscles a little, Sakura-chan taught me how to do them..." Naruto trailed off before shaking his head and waving, whenever he brought up someone from his past he tended to do this, though Tali wouldn't push for now as she tried to ignore the blush that rushed to her face at the rather personal offer.

He let her have her secrets, she would let him have his, for now at least. Finishing the stretching for the moment, she sat down just as Naruto rejoined the group as they finished their warm up laps of the inside of the assault course, taking them round to explain each exercise with a spring in his step she couldn't help but envy. Though from the slowly sinking faces on her 'comrades' faces, she definitely wasn't envying them right now...

!"£$%^&*

Wrex was a simple creature, to be honest all Krogan were really, he knew what made him happy in life and didn't usually get interested in things that ranged beyond fighting, drinking and eating. Saving his people from their slow bitter extinction was a lofty goal in comparison, but Wrex knew he hadn't thought too hard about how to do it, after all if he had complicated things the other Krogan would probably have gotten confused.

So, as he stopped to regain his breath for the eighth time in the last 2 hours, he found himself surprisingly interested in the young human that had managed to run a team of trained killers into the ground. It wasn't even his fighting instincts screaming at him to fight for dominance of the pack, those had been silenced when he had lost the contest on Therum, as much as he complained about Naruto getting to run off first and get the advantage.

This interest went deeper than that, to a level Wrex had never really descended to before now. It wasn't just how the boy fought and how Wrex could beat him, which was usually as far as Wrex got with his acquaintances these days as they all ended up dying off quite quickly anyway, but more trying to understand how he thought and why he was holding back so much.

"Come on old man, you are already ten laps behind me!" The call reignited the fury that constantly hummed in Wrex's blood, the insufferable brat finally breathing heavily as he jogged ahead of Commander Shepard, who was the only other member of the group still going.

"Be careful brat, we Krogan may not have the best endurance but we are natural sprinters. VERY dangerous over short distances..." Wrex reinforced that with a biting motion as the boy moved past him again, Wrex starting to jog again as Shepard caught him up, the normally unreadable woman scarlet in the face and obviously near the limit herself.

She had really surprised him carrying on this long though, she certainly had tenacity and stubbornness that would fit a Krogan quite nicely, unlike the other three who had dropped out in the first hour. Kaidan had gone first, his implants flaring up under the strain of the exercise, then Ashley had twisted her ankle going over one of the obstacles, the woman more annoyed at herself for the injury rather than actually hurt by it. Garrus had lasted to the fifty minute mark before stumbling to a halt and ejecting his lunch off to the side of the assault course.

"Commander?" Joker's voice broke through the air and Wrex knew it meant they had probably arrived at the Citadel, Shepard slowing to a halt in front of him and giving him a good excuse to stop there. Whilst his aching limbs and burning lungs made him feel more alive than he had ever probably felt off the battlefield, Wrex wasn't going to fall into the brat's trap and run himself into the ground to beat him.

"Yes Joker?" Talking into her comm meant that Wrex didn't hear Joker's reply, but Shepard carried on a moment later. "Thanks Joker, we will be on station in twenty minutes. Team, gather round!" The barked order showed that the prolonged training had not improved Shepard's mood, and having seen her deal with Fist, Wrex was in no mood to be the one on the end of her ire this time.

Wrex cast his eye around as the other members of the strike force shuffled and groaned as they moved into position around him, chuckling to himself as Naruto walked over still bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Have to get you to do this again brat, though next time we add some shooting challenges, then you will be in trouble." Despite his almost unnatural proficiency in close combat and endurance, Wrex knew that Naruto was only a passable shot at best, so challenging him to a shooting contest was the best chance at getting back at him.

"No shooting my ship..." Whatever Naruto was thinking of replying was cut off by Shepard's glare, Wrex managing to ignore the small feeling that he felt in the base of his stomach that usually only appeared when a Krogan female was brooding, though he decided not to push his luck just in case Shepard decided to break her own newly minted rule.

"Now, we are headed to the citadel for resupply as well as to sell the other items we found, I am giving each of you 24 hours leave." She paused as everyone perked up at that, though Wrex noticed her and the brat share a look which probably meant that she had something planned for him.

"The Council may come across some new leads at any time though, so I need you all to be able to make it back to the Normandy at an hours notice..." Wrex didn't think this would be a problem for this group, the only one who drank heavily was him and he wasn't in a drinking mood right now, he was in more of a smashing things mood.

"That said, given what we have just been through, I suggest trying some of the Presidium Spa's, unless you want to spend the next couple of days wincing every time you stand up. Dismissed!" Short and to the point, Wrex did rather like that about his new employer, as well as taking him to some of the best fights in the galaxy.

As the others all went their separate ways Wrex decided to see if he could help with whatever the commander had in mind for Naruto, given what the brat seemed to get up to most of the time it was almost certainly going to end up either pissing someone off or getting in a fight. And despite having done both more times than he could count, Wrex knew there was nothing he enjoyed more...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As much as some of you probably want me to rush through things to Feros and the rest of the ME story line I can't do that, it would be very difficult to meaningfully integrate Naruto into the ME universe properly if I don't do little fluff chapters. So sorry if it isn't what you want right now, but I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless.
> 
> Review and let me know what you think, and also pass on any side missions/DLC/ME2+3 character's Naruto could interact with now that you think will add to the story, certainly Kasumi would be an interesting interaction at this stage...


	10. The ripples spread

Barla Von would be the first to admit that he lead an easy life, between his work for the shadow broker and his own financial dealings there was very little in life that he wanted that he couldn't get, nearly everyone had a price and Barla was very good at working out what that was.

As he found himself jammed up against the wall of his apartment, feet dangling almost 3 feet off the ground and flailing uselessly, Barla couldn't help but think he should probably have invested a bit more in his personal security systems for this particular circumstance.

" **I have a trade for your boss little whelp."** The deep and obviously distorted voice did little to improve Barla's rather flaky constitution, the skull mask facing him right now terrifying him to the point that his attempt to defuse the situation came out a mere squeak rather than his usual calm tone.

"W-well sir, if you want to come by the office during the day I would be happy to..." Barla stopped with a breathy gasp as the man holding him slammed his fist into the wall next to Barla's head, denting the metal structure in a way that should not be humanly possible to achieve barehanded.

" **This is more convenient and serves as the warning that comes with this trade, should your boss try and fleece me I think you know who I will start with showing my displeasure."** One of the few dangers to working for the shadow broker was dealing with individuals like this, those more adept at solving arguments with guns and brute force rather than words and money.

"Of course s-sir, perfectly clear. What is it you wish to trade with the Shadow Broker?" Barla would definitely be hiring some bounty hunters to deal with this man, he refused to let himself get manhandled like this and then let the person get away with it, but if what he was offering the shadow broker was valuable then the deal could still be made first.

He was abruptly dropped to the floor with a thud, eyes taking in every part of his attacker that he could see for a description later. The man wore high end armour that had obviously been custom tailored with spikes and extra armour pads, the distinctive mask overlay on his helmet would make it easy to find the man in the street at any rate. The man brought out two data slates, throwing one to Barla dismissively.

" **The identities of a large number of gang members and their associated businesses on the Citadel, protection rackets and other money making activities."** Browsing through the first few entries, to ensure it's validity of course, Barla saw that whilst some of the information was already in their possession, this was quite a lot more detailed.

"Whilst we have some of this information the rest of it is certainly valuable enough, what are you wanting in return for this information? And what is on the second slate?" Barla wasn't dumb, the second slate was obviously meant to be an enticement for the first deal to be favourable.

" **Credits, high end weaponry, whichever is easier for me make disappear into the wider market. Let's make it credits, then we can negotiate on this second slate, which contains the information of which gangs Spectre Shepard and C-Sec are going to hit in the next 48 hours..."** Barla's eyes widened, the time frame was quite short but several gangs on the first list had standing deals with him to buy information related to law enforcement activities targeted at them, meaning that the second slate was far, far more valuable than the first one he had been given.

"How do you claim to have such information? Breaching the Alliance network on that new prototype of theirs is no easy task." Breaking into C-Sec's mainframe was a lot easier, but Pallin wasn't a fool and generally didn't release this kind of information electronically until an hour before they started breaking down doors, so a C-Sec leak was unlikely.

" **Much easier if you just access the data in person, physical security is actually a lot less robust than electronic on that ship, was easier to get in and out of there than it was here."** Something for him to note for later Barla thought to himself, he had several contacts that were known as high class thieves, perhaps he could continue obtaining the information even after he killed off this annoyance.

"Well, I will be able to offer you 20,000 credits for the first data slate and 50,000 for the second one, which is very generous I assure you." It was generous, for the first data slate at least, normally he wouldn't even offer half that for information he had already read and had most of already.

" **100,000 for both and an agreed 10,000 credit fee to be deposited with one of my contacts for each attack I provide forewarning of from now on, per gang."** Barla knew he could probably push for a better deal, but it was still less than half of what the gangs were offering and he had no desire to have this man in his home another minute if he could avoid it.

"You push a hard bargain sir, but I will agree, this chit has 100,000 on it plus a little extra as an incentive. How will you contact me if you have more information?" Barla hoped that the man would be stupid enough to arrange a meeting point or give him an extranet address, both would make tracking him and killing him that much easier for his minions.

" **Don't worry rat, if I have more information, it will get to you, one way or another..."** Barla couldn't react in time to avoid the second data slate hitting him in the face as it was thrown in his direction, stumbling back against the wall in shock.

Looking up the man was gone, something Barla would have thought impossible given his heavy armour and build, but frantically casting his eyes around the room Barla could see no sign of his assailant. With a weary sigh Barla activated his comms unit to get the head of his security, his weekend lie in ruined and now he would have to talk business before breakfast. Honestly, some people in this business were just barbarians...

*line break*

Crouched in a roof vent just outside the large apartment Barla Von called home, the skull masked figure chuckled darkly to itself for a moment before it shimmered and changed into the form of a familiar blonde ninja.

"Enjoy yourself there Kyuubi? Glad you listened to the no dismembering rule." The fox took a moment to reply, the deep mental rumble a moment later bursting with ill contained glee.

" _ **As if I would need to use physical violence against an insect like that, you give me no credit brat, though your deviousness is impressive given your usual 'holier than thou' attitude. I wonder what your beloved taichou would think of you selling out part of her attack for mere money?"**_ It was an impressive attempt at a guilt trip, given that the fox liked to pretend he hated Naruto's attempt to be honest and helpful with those he considered friends.

"It's fine, I have clones watching all the locations I gave him, which are only the ones on our strike list not C-sec's. We now get to see what they move, where they move it and whether we can actually put a face to any of Barla Von's men that aren't just his hired thugs." The only issue might be Wrex getting angsty, but from the sounds of it only a few of the gangs would be warned in time, so there should be enough trouble to keep the bloodthirsty Krogan happy.

" _ **Whatever you say brat, I wonder what your plan is for your newly gained ill gotten gains, whilst a nice sum for very little work it is probably coded to given the mole locations where any money is spent."**_ It was a good point, and Naruto had no delusions about the Volus and it's undoubtedly quickly forming plans for revenge, which was why he already had a plan.

"Well Kyuubi, let's give him a trail of crumbs to follow then, some of the people he sends after us might actually give you a challenge..." That and have some good gear or bounties on them, though Naruto knew he would need to remind Kyuubi not to kill them unless necessary, they were only doing their job after all and he had definitely provoked Barla into putting out the contract.

" _ **I doubt it brat, even with us trying to hide our abilities I can outfight any of these xenos, though Wrex might be fun to challenge sometime. Now, what do we want to buy first?"**_ Naruto had a few ideas, though 100,000 credits wasn't actually an easy value to shift in bulk without attracting attention.

"How do you feel about buying some shares?" There was at least one restaurant on the citadel that he thought would do a lot better now he was around, especially if he kept using paying his tab as the price in any competition between him and the other Normandy strike team members.

And the rest, well he had a plan to get Barla sniffing around an area where his men would definitely stick out...

*Line Skip*

"Here's your winnings sir... Please have a nice day." The slightly forced smile on the the Flux casino cashier's face just made Naruto smile even brighter under his henged mask, having doubled the 30,000 credits he had originally exchanged for the casino's tokens in less than 2 hours.

Now he had left Barla enough of a trail to make him think that his attacker lived in the area, visiting several shops and businesses near to the casino before using it in the casino itself, now it was time for him to get back to Jane's tasks. Wrex offering to give him a hand had been unexpected, but clearly the Krogan had been expecting trouble which was why he offered.

Naruto had switched out with a clone who was then going to 'check in' with several of his other clones, both to avoid pissing Wrex off by saying no and also to provide a seemingly legitimate route for him to obtain his information from. Given he hadn't received any memories that was still going according to plan, so now he just had to find some trouble to keep Wrex happy and then he was free for the evening.

Given the conversation he had heard between one of the waitresses and the man at the bar, perhaps another visit to Chora's den was in order...

*Line Skip*

Despite spending the afternoon in the spa, Jane couldn't help but regret trying so hard to keep up with Naruto during his training session, each step was painful and her muscles made it clear that doing anything but gingerly walking back to the Normandy would get a mutiny from them. Still it could be worse, she thought slightly amusedly to herself as she looked back to where Liara and Ashley were stumbling along, Ashley due to her injury and Liara due to her muscles seizing up after she had collapsed.

"Want a hand Jane-chan?" Turning to where Naruto had somehow appeared silently, Jane merely quirked an eyebrow in his direction, their agreed method of enquiring if he was the real one or not.

"Just finished with Wrex and an issue in Chora's den, then a little bird told me some of my precious teammates were struggling with the aftermath of our light training. So I thought I should leave Wrex to mop up the few remaining pieces of trouble in Chora's Den and came to offer my assistance in helping you back to the ship." Whilst the initial statement had her anger rising given his mocking smile, the offer of assistance certainly seemed genuine enough, and he had used the code phrase to indicate he was the original.

"What happened in Chora's Den? I thought you were just checking in on a few things before we took another mission." Given she wanted the others to catch up, Jane decided that distracting herself from the pain of standing was the best thing to do in the meantime.

"Just a C-Sec op that was about to explode in their faces, idiots were trying to use a civilian with no training or expertise to infiltrate an illegal gun mod ring, they didn't even shut her sister up from talking about it. Got the girl out, beat up those trying to kill her for being a snitch, and then had one of my contacts complete the deal for them." Naruto's irritation was understandable given his background, Naruto's ability to infiltrate places was one he was very proud of, and others mockery of the art was one of the few points he really liked to gripe about.

"I bet you are going to get a nice little paycheck out of it though, so I wouldn't try and complain too much Naruto. Now, as much as I would like to take it easy, I think Liara and Ash need your help considerably more than I do Naruto, I was starting to worry Liara wouldn't make it back at all." The Asari perked up at the idea of help, though she looked a little confused when Naruto turned away from her and knelt down.

"He is offering you a piggy back Liara, not quite what I meant when I said help you but I suppose it will speed us up." Jane was slightly surprised that Liara didn't know what a piggyback was, maybe what she had been telling her of her childhood with Benezia wasn't exaggerated after all.

"A-are you sure this is okay? I am not sure about human customs and wouldn't want to give people the wrong idea..." Obviously carrying someone around had a different meaning in Asari culture, or at least that's what Jane assumed from Liara's statement.

"Well if you don't want the lift Liara I am sure that Ashley or I will take up Naruto's offer..." Given how painful the journey had been thus far, Jane was more than slightly tempted to pull rank now she had made the initial offer, it would sure beat trudging back under her own power.

' _So it is not at all due to the fact you want the opportunity to get a feel for those rock hard muscles? Or to stake your claim before Liara gets any ideas?'_ The sarcastic voice inside her head was the part of her that mentally said the things it wasn't acceptable to utter out loud, or at least it usually was, this was out of left field even for her.

"Oh sorry Commander, I didn't mean to offend, I was just curious about what people might assume. I think you are correct though, making it back without assistance may well be beyond me now, so if you are still willing Naruto?" The blonde nodded, to Jane's slight chagrin, and Liara hopped into place a moment later.

"No worries Liara-chan, I imagine Tali-chan will probably need some help when she finishes with her spa as well, and we wouldn't want you injuring yourself before the next mission..." Jane tried to ignore the slight blush on Liara's face as she wrapped her arms round Naruto's neck, given the number of things that embarrassed or caught the young Asari off guard it probably wasn't even related to the current situation...

' _Keep telling yourself that Hun, though I reserve the right to say I told you so when you actually get jealous later...'_ Normally Jane found her inner's comments amusing or very astute, but now she was just wishing she had told the shrink about it all those years ago, she knew it wouldn't let this little fantasy go for some time.

"Jane-chan? Are you okay?" Naruto's call drew her from her rather one sided internal argument, Jane quickly realising she was frowning rather intensely in his direction, not exactly a good facial expression to be using despite her annoyance.

"Yes, I am fine Naruto, though next time I am pulling rank." And the time after and so on, Jane thought as the quartet started moving down the street once again, not realising the slightly sadistic grin she was now sporting would probably disturb Naruto even more than the frown had if he happened to notice...

*Line Skip*

Lines of text from reports across the galaxy flittered across the screens in front of him, filtered and condensed by his most trusted agents, allowing him to understand the top level of what was going on within his organisation.

"You called for me?" The accent would have given the approaching person away even if she had tried to hide her distinctive walking pattern, Miranda Lawson a beautiful sight to behold even as she stopped ten yards from him and stood to attention, her face set in the calm facade she liked to present to the world.

"I did, did you view the file I sent you?" The report on this Naruto Uzumaki had of course been classified to the highest level within Alliance command, but that just meant that it took his agents a little longer to pass it along to him.

"Of course, though I question the validity of it, which I imagine you foresaw given we are meeting now..." Despite the fact she could and often did use subtlety and manipulation when talking with others, Miranda was one of the few trusted to enter his inner sanctum, there was a level of trust there that most would be unable to fathom for such an organisation.

"Of course. I could have just forwarded these to you but I felt the tactical assessment could come from you in person." With a wave of his hand the video streams started, what little security footage left on Eden Prime that his operatives could salvage, the arrival of the Normandy on the Citadel and the fight that went with it and so on.

"As you can see, the reports indications of Uzumaki's ability to duplicate himself are not as farfetched as first is to be believed, which given how suspicious he seemed at first points to other skills he is no doubt still hiding. Tactical assessment?" Whilst he had already made his own assessment regarding the boy, it was always interesting to hear how the minds of his subordinates worked.

"Tactically? Probably about average for his age, the boy seems to just spam his duplicates and send them in en masse. That does point to this ability being one that does not strain him overtly, or that he is so used to the strain that several dozen clones are not a problem for him now, meaning that in terms of physical threat I would put him on the same level as one of our sweep teams." Interesting, lower than he had put the boy, but he supposed she didn't have all the data and it was closer to his assessment then Kai's was.

"And knowing you as I do operator Lawson, you want to know why I have brought this to your attention given the stand down and evacuate order that I have given regarding humanity's new Spectre and her crew?" Not exactly a leap of logic, whilst Uzumaki's abilities fascinated him, Miranda was currently running a dozen other teams for him and a bit too busy to just summon over in order to show off his new find.

"I wouldn't question your reasons sir, his abilities would make him quite the asset if he was properly trained. Please don't tell me you called me to get me to seduce him?" Whilst there were many distasteful things Miranda had done for him and Cerberus, she had made it clear that sleeping with people for the job was a line she wasn't going to cross, and he couldn't help but respect her for that.

"Of course not, if the reports of his training as a shinobi are even remotely accurate he would see that coming a mile off, though given all of our data has come from the boy himself thus far I imagine everything we know has to be taken with a large spoon of salt. My point is that he is entirely new to the galaxy as a whole, meaning that he has no preconceived notions of us or Cerberus as a whole, certainly not the usual drivel that is fed to the masses by the Alliance spin doctors." Something he would have loved to rectify if he had the time and resources, but humanity's future was far more important than his personal reputation.

"So you wish for me to make contact with him and act as a diplomat to Cerberus?" He nodded silently, allowing Miranda to then continue speaking. "I will need to pass some of my operations to other Operators, if I am going to the Citadel I will not be able to manage them effectively." The Illusive man nodded, he had expected this request even as he summoned her.

"Send me the details, I will run the operations in your absence, it has been some time since I have been into the field after all." And there was rarely a better opportunity to remind some of his lower level employees that he was actually real, not merely a shadowy figure that haunted their minds when they were behind on reports, he was a people person after all.

"Of course, anything else?" It was only slight, but he allowed himself a small upturning of the corners of his mouth as Miranda once again proved much easier to anticipate and understand than she would want, the feeling of satisfaction disappearing moments later as he nodded and held out a small electronic device.

"Yes, there is one thing I think would be advantageous to us, both in understanding Uzumaki and also in getting us information on the Spectre's progress outside of what she reports to the council. Given my orders we will need to hire someone in from the outside to infiltrate the ship and plant this in the main data core, the who I leave up to you, though if they could also nab any medical records on Uzumaki whilst they are there that would be beneficial." He knew who she would think of first, after all it would be the same person he had thought of, but the illusion of independent thought was important to make his people feel valued.

He couldn't do the thinking for them all the time now could he? Dismissing Miranda in his best attempt at a civil and warm manner, he turned back to the screens and began to actively focus on the data, he might have missed something after all and that just wouldn't do.

"Interesting..." The single utterance was the only indication he gave of his mental processes as he read the bounty contract from the Citadel, put out by Barla Von for 'a skull masked wearing mercenary, last seen in Flux', concluding from the information in the contract that this was the Uzumaki in disguise.

After all, who else could dent steel with just a punch, then disappear before Barla had a chance to call his hired cronies? If the boy did allow Miranda to talk him into supporting their cause, he was definitely going to have to teach him a lot more about subtlety...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, a couple of key introductions this chapter, we have the Kyuubi everyone! He is definitely going to be Naruto's darker side in this story, but I am not going to have him be a simple beast of war as quite a lot of fics have him, I think a more manipulative and devious foil to Naruto's relative straightforwardness and honesty will work better.
> 
> Secondly, Jane's mental voice... This is not 'inner Sakura MK 2' or anything like that, as is stated in chapter this is just her voice that she uses mentally when what she says out loud is not appropriate, though it will be fun to have it develop a bit more of the sassy personality that you see here.
> 
> Finally, Cerberus and the Illusive man... When I started this fic I was a typical ME player that believed that other than a few good eggs the entirety of Cerberus was sour to the core, but as you guys have read... They might have a point about the Council in a way that I hadn't anticipated.
> 
> So with that in mind, I want to ask my readers... Cerberus, make more positive than they were perceived in the games? Yay or Nay? Rogue elements of the group will splinter off for the purposes of ME 1 and then we can go from there.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts guys, if there is a particular leaning one way or another I will factor it into my writing!


	11. The Indoctrinated Strike Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Mwahahahaha! I bet you didn't see that coming! I felt that given Jane's team are messing up Saren's plans, it would only make sense for Saren to try and take her out, and if not her then some of her team. Naruto took a hit for the team there, Kyuubi chakra helping him survive before then going on a vengeance spree.
> 
> Of course, big reveal is Naruto sensing chakra from Feros... Is it going to be one of his friends, or an artefact the Protheans recovered, or something else? Let me know what you are thinking people!
> 
> Defias Out!

"Another 18 locations hit, though it seems we have a leak somewhere given that 7 other locations were empty by the time we got there." Jane seemed annoyed at this, making Naruto feel slightly guilty at his clandestine operations the other night, her tone and glance across at Pallin made it clear where she thought the blame lay.

"Given my agents only knew where C-Sec would be targeting and your targets were the ones that were cleaned out Commander, I wouldn't be looking at me like that." That was a point, and given Jane's startled glance over to him Naruto got the feeling she hadn't realised that either, so she was now going to be paranoid about them being spied upon or betrayed.

Naruto would tell her eventually, probably when he had done something useful enough that she wouldn't get overly angry, but the money had been far too useful an addition to ignore. The fact that it wasn't in either his or Jane's account meant it wasn't going to be tracked by the Council either, which given his clones were still having to distract some of their agents when they were on the Citadel was a forgone conclusion.

"We can look into it after this taichou, we haven't been the most cautious when speaking over the comms after all." It had been a security flaw that Naruto had already noticed with his comrades back on Therum, but it was a good enough excuse to distract Jane for now.

"Still, the fact that those areas were cleared means that the gangs will have been forced to reorganise in a hurry, this may actually help my agents in the long run with infiltrating their networks. So Commander, in regards to payment..." Naruto zoned Pallin out at this point as memories suddenly appeared in his head, obviously one of his scouts had found something...

His eyes widened even as he could suddenly hear the high pitched whining noise getting steadily louder and louder, shifting forwards as fast as he could to throw both Pallin and Jane against the nearest wall with one hand, his left hand wrenching the executor's table from its floor mounting despite his muscles screaming protest at the stress such an action put them under. He wouldn't be able to shift himself into position in time, that much he knew for certain as he shifted the table so that it would provide a modicum of cover for the two still recovering commanders.

" _Kyuubi!"_ The fox would know what was up, even when the Bijuu was sleeping the thing's danger sense was attuned to the point that Naruto was surprised the warning hadn't come from the fox, but even when the beast was being 'friendly' he often had to be firm to get his requests heard.

" ***Sigh* Fine brat, but this is going to hurt a lot, make sure you find who did this afterwards, I want to make them suffer more!"** Naruto felt the Kyuubi's chakra encircle him just in time, the sight of the missile impacting against the bulletproof window of the Executor's suite the last thing he saw before he turned, ducked his head and closed his eyes, the world exploding in pain and fire around him moments later.

Kyuubi's chakra didn't protect him as such, certainly not in the same way that his kinetic barriers tried for a moment before failing dramatically, but that wasn't why Naruto had asked for some of the monstrous power. Instead it deadened the pain and replaced it with anger, regenerating his body even as shrapnel and fire attempted to end his life, meaning that as the blast subsided he was up and moving towards the now gaping hole in the ambassador's building.

Someone had just tried to kill him, him and Jane-chan, and he was going to find out who and why before he let the pain overcome him...

*Line Break*

Jane's head was still ringing from the explosion as she forced herself to her feet, her concern for Naruto far outweighing the unpleasant feeling that came with her inner ear still recovering from the blast. Given the lack of a body or any blood she was confident that he had survived, but that merely meant he was probably off doing something stupid again, such as chasing after the one who fired the missile.

"Commander!" Pallin's call went ignored as Jane rushed to the window, easily spotting her crew member as he darted through the rapidly gathering crowd and towards the other side of the Presidium.

Unfortunately, whilst Naruto could just shrug off a 3 floor drop after a rocket attack and then just run off like nothing had happened, Jane wasn't so indomitable. So quickly checking that the Executor was okay, which he was apart from a few scratches, Jane made her way to the door as fast as she could. It took her two precious minutes to fight her way to the building's entrance, and another 30 seconds for her to make the crowd part in front of her to allow her through, meaning that the slowly returning sounds of gunfire and fighting that she could hear had faded away by the time she had crossed the large bridge that bridged the two main sides of the Presidium.

"Naruto? Naruto, where are you?" The first sign she had to follow was a dead Salarian mercenary, gaping chest wound making it clear that Naruto had reverted to his spear rather than bothering with the pretense of guns any more.

The trail of blood worried her though, obviously a sign that Naruto had been injured in the fight or had in fact not come out of the rocket attack unscathed. Two more corpses were visible leading up through the small marketplace and Jane quickly confirmed that they were the same group as the first, one of them probably their attacker given the rocket that was lying next to him with the main body of the weapon reduced to little more than scrap metal.

The thrum of a sky car had Jane jump and raise her shotgun, it took off from in front of her to the left, in the same direction as the blood trail. It accelerated away from her too quickly for her to do anything about it though, and heading in that direction she laid eyes on the sort of scene you would see in a horror movie.

"Naruto... Naruto!" Her companion was barely able to stand, his weight resting heavily on his spear and the wall, armour cracked and scorched from the heat.

"Huh, oh hi Jane-chan... Could you give me a hand? I'm feeling a little..." And then he fell sideways, making Jane's heart freeze in her chest for a precious moment before she rushed forwards whilst activating her earpiece.

"Normandy, Naruto is down in the Presidium and we have been attacked, alert everyone and get them back to the ship now!" Whilst she would have preferred to have the rest of them come back her up, only Naruto and herself were probably still armed and armoured given they had finished their raids hours ago.

More concerningly with this attack and something that was praying was just her paranoia at this stage, was that if she and Naruto had been the target, then they probably weren't the only targets the assassins would have in mind...

*Line break*

Ashley knew she was being followed, three heavily armed and armoured mercenaries were not very good at blending into such a crowd on the Presidium at the best of times, and had done her best to surreptitiously shake them for the last five minutes or so. However, given the crowded streets she couldn't afford to be too obvious about such an attempt, if the assassins had explosives or heavy weaponry and decided to open up the collateral damage could be...

The sound of an explosion caused her to pause in her thinking as the crowd started to panic, concern that the explosion was related to her pursuers rising as the three of them started to close in on her a few moments later, meaning she had to make a rather hasty decision. Pushing through the crowd towards a small side street, Ashley regretted the decision to wear her casual uniform out on her little shopping spree, it meant that she only had her pistol and nothing in the way of armour to speak of.

Shaking her head to clear her mind before she started telling herself off for being unprepared, Ashley ducked into the side street that contained several doorways and items that she could hide behind or in if she really needed to, though they would be the first places the mercenaries would look for her no doubt. With only a few moments before the mercenaries reached the entrance to the alley, Ashley saw what she was looking for and gave a small smile even as she started running towards it.

The first mercenary arrived a few moments later, shotgun up and ready as he scanned the alleyway, though he didn't enter until the other two arrived several seconds afterwards. The three of them were obviously more than the usual rabble they had to deal with then, calm and disciplined even as they moved down the alley slowly, covering each other as they checked every doorway and hiding spot.

"Where is she?" The third mercenary, a young human armed with an assault rifle, was obviously the least experienced of the group as he broke the silence first.

"Either she managed to fool us into thinking she went down here, or she is still hiding somewhere down this alley, neither outcome is helped by your speaking human." The Turian who had been leading the group spoke with a dismissive and abrasive tone, that either implied he hated the human for his inexperience, or merely the fact that he was human.

"Quiet both of you, one more sweep and then we get out of here, her head isn't worth us being caught by C-Sec." Perched on top of the little overhang above one of the doors, barely risking breathing in case they heard her, Ashley was glad that she had seen Naruto use this little trick earlier during the raid on the gangs.

For a moment she thought that she would get away with it, the the mercenaries passing underneath her without comment, when suddenly her comms activated. Whilst not loud enough to give her away directly, Ashley knew it would be enough to make the mercenaries suspicious and lead to her discovery, meaning that she swung into action even as Joker's voice filled her ear.

"Alert, Normandy crew under attack on the Presidium, all crew to report back to the ship for security reasons immediately!" Even as Joker finished speaking Ashley leapt down and slammed the heels of her feet into the human's unarmoured head, sending him crumpling to the floor even as she continued to fall, raising the pistol so that it was pressed directly into the Turian's chest.

Firing three rounds at that range, where his kinetic barriers couldn't activate due to the proximity, took the Turian out before he could even react, body flying back into the wall as Ashley tried to swing her pistol round to deal with the Asari. However her last opponent was prepared, knocking her pistol aside with her free hand and raising her own, though thankfully Ashley grabbed the arm and managed to force the muzzle away from her.

Then the Asari's eyes glowed blue and Ashley felt the biotic lift take effect, the Asari managing to free her arm as Ashley tried to bring her gun to bear in zero g.

"You have skill, I will give you that human, though I suppose it did not matter in the end. Saren paid us to send the new Spectre a message, and your body will do nicely..." The Asari raised her pistol once more, only for a noise to cause her to jerk in it's direction, Naruto stood at the entrance to the alley with a grim look on his face.

"Another of our targets, I will enjoy my pay after all of this..." The Asari fired three times, Naruto dodging each shot even as Ashley felt the lift's power begin to fade.

Shifting as the lift failed entirely, Ashley took advantage of the last few moments of weightlessness to swing her body so that her legs could push off the wall behind her, sending her careening into the Asari and causing them both to tumble to the floor. Not giving the Asari any respite, Ashley let her anger at the fear she had felt in the lift take control, unleashing a flurry of vicious punches into the Asari's face and upper torso.

"Ashley, that's enough!" Naruto's call, followed by his firm grip a few moments later, brought her back to her usual self, though given the bloody mess that her opponent's face had been reduced to their newly acquired prisoner wouldn't be talking anytime soon.

"It's okay Ash, it's okay..." As Naruto pulled her off the Asari and into an embrace, Ashley realised she had begun to cry, the hot tears slipping down her face as the adrenaline faded and she realised quite how close she had been to dying and being unable to do anything about it.

"Thanks Naruto, but I am okay honest, just the shock. Not that I am ungrateful, but how did you end up being in the perfect place to distract her?" She had a suspicion as to why Naruto had been there, which was bolstered by the slightly awkward shrug the ninja used to try and avoid the answer, but she wouldn't press.

The boy, or at least his clone, had just saved her life with his arrival. Given that she would forgive him a little spying/stalking, especially because the commander almost definitely already knew about it and could well have ordered it, Naruto's earlier comments about a 'little bird' telling him things making a lot more sense now.

"I won't press Naruto though you should probably work on a more reasonable excuse, in case you have to step in for one of the others, I'm certain Tali might get the wrong idea about her white knight..." It wasn't hard to tell the Quarian had feelings for their ninja, though as he blushed through a stuttering denial Ashley could see why, he definitely had his heart in the right place if nothing else.

Maybe next time she wanted some shore leave she could have him accompany her rather than guard from a far? Would definitely make his life easier, and he definitely wasn't the worst person she could be seen with at dinner...

*line break*

It had been pandemonium on the Citadel since the attack almost 36 hours beforehand, an assassination attempt on both the C-Sec executor and humanity's first Spectre in broad daylight making every news broadcast and communications briefing that Jane had heard, even the Council had been forced to weigh in and assign 2 other Spectres to 'assist' in the investigation.

Jane knew the real reason for the added Spectre presence, serving to both pacify an alarmed populace and also to minimise the impact she could have on the investigation. Honestly, she didn't mind overly much, her main source of information was lying unconscious in front of her so it wasn't like she would have been very productive anyway.

It wasn't as if vengeance hadn't already been dealt, the boss may be injured but Naruto's clones were quick to act, more than a dozen mercenaries found either dead or crippled with bounty information on her and her crew easily found on their bodies. The warning was obvious, even as C-Sec interrogated her entire crew to try and find out who was responsible for the killings, and would hopefully put off any further attacks in the near future.

"You do know I can't stand gloomy girls right Jane-chan? Did I miss something whilst I was out?" The scratchy and weak voice dragged Jane's attention to the deep blue eyes of the man who had probably saved her life for the third or fourth time now, a smile coming unbidden to her face even as she did her best to glare at him.

"You mean apart from Ash almost getting assassinated, someone shooting a rocket at us and YOU getting BLOWN UP?" Her voice was a little louder than she had intended, and Naruto's guilty wince made her feel a little bad, but then a determined look crossed his face and he raised a still bandaged arm.

"What was I supposed to do taichou? There wasn't any time after getting you and Pallin into cover..." Jane was about to object that he didn't need to protect her like that, but Naruto shook his head even as she opened her mouth, obviously guessing what she was going to say next.

"And yes, it is better that I got hit than protecting myself first rather than you Jane-chan, the only person who can probably take an explosion like that better than me is Wrex and even he would have been down and out after that one. With my... unique abilities it's better that I..." Jane didn't realise that she had let her anger get the better of her until it happened, the slap connecting and sending Naruto's head reeling before she embraced him in a hug.

"Don't you dare, do you realise we thought you were going to die?" Doing her best to get a grip on her emotions, Jane pulled back and fixed Naruto with a direct gaze.

"I understand what you mean, and I know you are right that you can survive more than I can, but that doesn't mean that we should just accept that should be the way things happen. You are too important to all of us for you to keep trying to get yourself killed..."

" _Aww, now if you could only admit that you are angry because YOU care, and that you have barely left his bed side for the last two days we might actually get somewhere."_ Her inner voice would normally have ruined her mood, but for once Jane didn't actually feel the need to try and disprove or ignore the points it had made.

"...Hai, you aren't the first one to tell me that Jane-chan, but I don't really know any defensive jutsu other than just cloaking myself in chakra... There wasn't really much time for structured learning after the invasion..." Despite the initial claims Naruto had made to Anderson and the Council, Jane was getting the feeling that he hadn't been anywhere near as proficient a ninja as he had claimed, especially with things like this.

"Well, can we work on creating some then Naruto? Because whilst I do not know 'jutsu' there are enough biotics on this ship that you could modify your abilities to act like theirs for the time being, certainly the biotic barrier that they all learn would improve your defences." As Naruto's face lit up, Jane decided she didn't care though, he had his rights to secrets just as she had hers.

"Making new jutsu? That will be so cool! Maybe I could make it bigger and..." As Naruto started to brainstorm in his usual manic manner, Jane felt relief start flooding her system, at least the explosion didn't seem to have done any lasting damage that she could tell.

"Naruto, we can work on it later with Kaidan, for now I better go tell the others you are up. A certain engineer has been very concerned about your well being..." She moved away, ready to stand and head for the door, when Naruto did something unexpected.

Rather than be embarrassed about her inference to Tali's crush on him, which was so obvious now even he would have trouble missing it, Naruto instead frowned before a blue wave of his chakra erupted from his body. The wave flowed through her and the walls moments before the alarms started blaring throughout the ship.

"Commander, energy readings just went through the roof! Trying to pinpoint where it came from in case it was Geth in..." Jane cut off Joker's report even as Naruto suddenly shifted out of bed, summoning his spear to help him stand.

"Joker, the readings came from our asset, stand down." Looking across at Naruto, who was throwing on his normal clothes as fast as he could, Jane couldn't help but be slightly concerned as he asked a rather out of place question.

"Jane, where are we?" His tone was strangely demanding and fierce, Jane quickly opening up her omnitool as she replied.

"We have just taken orbit over a planet named Feros, there were reports of a Geth attack on the colony and it is as good a lead as any in regard to Saren." Opening the small galactic map on her screen, Jane showed Naruto where it was in comparison to where else they had been.

"We were about to launch a ground team when Dr Chakwas said you might be waking up..." Naruto nodded and then pointed towards the door.

"No time to waste then, we need to get down there now!" Normally Jane didn't mind Naruto's little quirks and changes in personality, but this was too different to normal for her to just ignore.

"Naruto! You've just woken up from being sedated for 2 days, and now you want to join the boarding party despite the fact your armour is in pieces..." She grabbed his arm and made him turn to face her, his eyes studiously avoiding meeting her own.

"You're hiding something, and I won't have you endangering the mission or yourself by trying to keep it from us." There seemed to be something of an internal struggle inside Naruto's head for several moments before he sighed and gestured down and to his left.

"I can sense chakra Jane-chan, it is very weak, but I can feel it down there. It is one of my friends... It has to be..."


	12. Hope Shatters

"Jane-taichou, the sky way is clear of all hostiles apart from 3 of those large walkers and a couple of large groups of infantry, moving on to scout out the alpha varren..." As Naruto's latest report came in Tali couldn't help but question Shepard's judgement regarding the mission, though as she caught sight of her commander's expression from the driver's seat of their Mako Tali realised she might not have had much of a choice in Naruto's tactics.

"Okay Naruto, scout only understand? We will catch up with you shortly." Despite her concern for their blonde haired team mate Tali couldn't help but feel a small amount of satisfaction that her gut feeling had been right.

Naruto had been different since he had woken from the assassination attempt, quiet and driven to the point that Tali was almost concerned it wasn't the same person, aggressively breaking through the Geth blockade around the human colony before going 'scouting'. Though given the number of Geth corpses that were scattered in their path as they advanced, maybe hunting was a more appropriate term for Naruto's actions.

It wasn't to say that the three of them following him had nothing to do, Naruto having left the larger clusters of Geth and reported them in before moving on, and the three Geth dropships in the area provided more than enough opposition to slow them down in their advance towards Exo-Geni's base of operations. Jane had elected to have her and Garrus accompany her, while the others had set themselves up in a forward base in the tunnels they had cleared leading up to the colony. This would help protect the 300 or so surviving colonists from any further Geth attacks whilst they moved on the tower.

"Commander, I am picking up several comm's signals from nearby and they definitely aren't Geth, should we investigate? It could be other survivors..." Garrus' comment jarred Tali back to the present, flushing as she did a sweep of her own and found the signals Garrus was talking about, Keelah, and she was meant to be the tech specialist in the squad.

Thankfully Shepard didn't seem bothered by her failure, merely spinning the Mako in a flashy but skilled turn to avoid the fire of an armature that reared up from where it had been hiding amongst the skyway debris, Garrus opening up with the main gun and the machine gun whilst Tali narrowed down the location of the signals as fast as she could. As the armature collapsed to the ground, one of the cannon rounds blowing off a leg before Shepard charged into the thing at full speed, Tali let out a little triumphant cry as she finished locking down the signal.

"Shepard, the signals are human in origin, I have decrypted them and they are from that service area I think."

"Good work Tali, let's go investigate, Naruto will just have to be patient... If that is even a word in his dictionary." There was a grumble over the comms a moment later, making Tali giggle slightly.

"I can still hear you guys you know... Fine, I will loop back and meet you after I have scouted the tower, don't be too long." Tali couldn't help but chuckle at Naruto's childish complaint, even when the young man was being all dour and serious he still managed to improve her mood somehow.

"Shepard, do you know what is upsetting Naruto at the moment?" Surprisingly, it was Garrus that voiced her thoughts as they pulled the Mako to a halt, the Turian sounding concerned despite the obvious attempt he made to sound casual with his question.

"Something with this mission is related to his past, he thinks there is an item of personal significance here and the sooner we eliminate the Geth the sooner he can try and find it." Tali's eyes widened at this revelation, given the manner of her original rescue she had been 'briefed' regarding Naruto's true past, unlike the other non-human members of the strike force it meant she understood the significance of a possible link to his previous life.

"And he still focusses on the mission first? Commendable, especially seeing as he has almost no personal items that he keeps on the Normandy, would he like help?" How much the offer from Garrus was genuine and how much was related to his curiosity about the young enigma on their team Tali wasn't sure, but thankfully Shepard's reply was cut off as they approached the entrance to the service area and the voices from the comms became audible through the entrance of the service tunnel.

Tali's mind was elsewhere as the two leaders of the survivors started a conversation with Shepard, wrestling with the desire to try and contact Naruto privately. It was only because she wanted to help if she could, or that is what she told herself as she activated her internal comms and taking a couple of steps back to gain a little privacy.

"Naruto, Shepard's just told us about what you think might be down here, is there anything I can do to help?" There was a moment's pause before she heard a small sigh and Naruto responded.

"Unless you can sense chakra Tali-chan I don't think you will be able to, though given the amount of residual chakra that seems to be filling this area I might need some extra eyes as I cannot sense anything specific here. How are the survivors?" Looking around at the mixture of researchers and bureaucrats who were huddled in every alcove and sheltered spot of the service area, Tali could feel the nervousness in the air even as Jane continued discussing with a human man and woman, though some of the guards seemed more nervous about them than they were about a possible Geth attack.

"Frightened, but that's not surprising given most of them are civilians, though the guards seem more concerned with us than they are with the Geth." There was a chuckle from Naruto, and Tali couldn't stop a small smile crossing her face at the sound, she didn't know what she had said to prompt the improvement but she almost didn't care.

"Aww, little Tali-chan is all grown up thinking of other people as defenceless civilians, next you will be drinking and shouting out rude songs with the rest of us..." Tali blushed, not having realised she had subconsciously made the distinction that way, but then there was the sound of barking and howling from Naruto's end of the line.

"Several Varren here, should be a good warm up before we make a move on the Geth, one minute Tali-chan." With Naruto busy, Tali started paying attention to the conversation in front of her again, though it seemed more of an argument between the two now identified Exogeni employees.

"That's my daughter you're talking about so dismissively, I knew you were a pain in the ass Jeong but I didn't realise you were this much of a..." The woman seemed very tempted to switch from words to action as Jeong just shrugged uncaringly, but thankfully Jane stepped in before the sources of information tried to kill each other.

"Where is your daughter Juliana? Over by the tower?" Juliana nodded and then sighed in an obvious effort to calm herself down.

"Yes, she was working late when the first attack came in, but she knew that place like the back of her hand. She's still alive, I know it..." Even Tali could tell that Juliana was holding onto hope as much as she actually thought her daughter was still alive, but to her credit Jane only smiled reassuringly.

"If we can find her, we will keep her safe Juliana, you have my word. In fact, I have a scout out ahead of us that may well find her first, and I can arrange for the rest of my team to come escort you to Zhu's Hope." Jeong stuttered excuses about how it wouldn't be possible to move to Zhu's Hope, which made Tali suspicious, were only weakened by his body language practically screaming out that he was hiding something.

"It is up to you, feel free to stay here whilst we clear out the Geth, though when I come back you will be answering my questions and telling me what the hell it is ExoGeni are trying to hide here..." Jane had noticed as well, not surprising given her thus far superlative choices in character for companions, though obviously she was as much angry over Naruto's distancing of himself from them on this mission in her response.

"Naruto, do you copy?" Jane trying to contact Naruto over the comms made it clear that they were moving out, though Tali stayed half facing the Exo-Geni staff as they walked away and was happy to see Garrus do the same, it wasn't just her bullshit sensors that had been going off.

"Here Commander, I am not going to be able to make the rendezvous as planned, I have found a survivor and I think you are going to be very interested in what she has to say..." Huh, well that didn't sound ominous at all...

!"£$%^&*()_+

"I would really advise that you think your actions through here..." Looking down the barrel of Jeong's gun Jane had to say she wasn't surprised by the ploy, the man's desperation had been almost nauseating when they had returned after clearing out the Geth from Exogeni's tower.

"Why, what are you going to do Spectre? We have you outnumbered and none of you have..." Ethan's attempt to point out that neither she or the other two members of her team hadn't drawn their weapons was cut off as an armoured figure dropped from the roof above them and roundhouse kicked him in the head, already moving to take out the two nearest guards before they had even realised what was going on.

Stepping forward as Garrus and Tali drew their weapons to stand off against the remaining guards, who were looking distinctly uncomfortable as Naruto _snapped_ an assault rifle in half with a single movement, Jane put her boot rather forcefully on Jeong's chest as he tried to recover from the surprise assault.

"As I was going to say before you so rudely interrupted, my team mate here is already wanting to feed you to a krogan for hiding the information about the Thorian from us, and he would have given you far more than that light tap if not for me ordering him not to harm you too much..." Even as he struggled to focus on her, no doubt suffering from the beginnings of an almighty concussion, Jane turned her attention to the remaining half a dozen guards.

"And if any of you have your weapons raised in five seconds I will let him take his full annoyance out on the lot of you, Naruto why don't you give them an example of why this would be a bad idea?" It was a credit to the young man that he was keeping his anger at Exogeni's deception so under wraps, especially as this Thorian was probably the reason that he couldn't get an exact fix on whatever it was he had sensed down here from orbit, but the professionalism faded a little as his face morphed into a feral snarl before burying his fist _into_ the ceramite of structure they were in with the blue/red glow obviously meant to disguise his strength as biotic power.

"Now, you are going to tell me everything you know about this Thorian and what the hell it has done to those colonists, any objections?" Much to her slight disappointment the guards quickly lowered their weapons, Jane did want to see Naruto go to town on these mooks as much for the passive venting of her own anger at this mess as to test his skills a little further.

A short and rather mood lifting reunion of Lizbeth and Juliana later and they had the answers they needed, though the news that the Thorian was based underneath Zhu's Hope made it no easier to strategise how to go after it. After communicating with the other members of her team, and finding them now besieged by the very colonists they had been protecting, Jane knew the time for subtlety was over.

"Naruto, I need you to head back ahead of us and take care of the colonists attacking the rest of the team, go all out if you need to as we don't have time to waste in an attrition war. Just remember they are..." Naruto cut her off with a wave of his hand, already turning to the door in an obvious hurry to get moving himself.

"Hai taichou, no killing, easy enough given that these guys are all civilians. You guys head for the Thorian, I will clear a path out for the others and then go deal with any stragglers that may try and attack us in the back when we go down to meet this giant vegetable." Naruto giving the orders was slightly annoying, but what he said made sense and Jane didn't want to slow things down with an argument, that could wait until after the mission.

"Wait, if you are going to..." Juliana's call was ignored by Naruto as he took off at what seemed to be a sprint, though Jane knew that he was slowing himself down due to the witnesses at the moment.

"If he is going to knock out the colonists, isn't he going to need some of these grenades? " Seeing her hold up some of the grenades she had mentioned should knock out the infected colonists, Jane merely shook her head before gesturing to the other two.

"Don't worry about him, he is more than capable of taking care of himself. Now you two, let's grab these grenades and get back, otherwise Wrex may well lose his temper..." The Krogan warlord had already taken out two assault groups of colonists almost by himself, utilising his regeneration and brute strength to 'pacify' the attackers without killing them, though several would not be walking anywhere for the next few weeks when they woke up.

The lack of killing would put Wrex in a bad mood, making Jane hope the Thorian had other things to throw at them rather than colonists, the bill that Wrex had created after their leaked raid on the Citadel in damages was quite substantial...

!"£$%^&*()_

"Die for the Th..." Whipping round as a aged male colonist started trying to gun him down, Naruto was glad that this seemed to be the last of the colonists guarding the causeway to the Normandy, the other dozen or so having been taken care of easily enough in the opening moments of his leap into combat.

"Not today Ji-san, now why don't you take a nap..." Shifting to avoid some of the bullets that came his way, Naruto let his shield absorb the rest of them as he rushed forwards, knocking the man out as gently as he could manage.

"Taichou, that's the last of the colonists on the outskirts, how are you guys doing?" Even though the colony had been in it's infancy there had been over three hundred colonists that would have been infected by the Thorian, so even with the 70 odd that Naruto and his clones had dealt with in the tunnels and blockading the others it wasn't going to be an easy fight.

"Things will be going better when you get down here Naruto, we have managed to deal with the first line of defences without any permanent casualties amongst the colonists, but between us running low on those grenades and these Creeper things we might struggle to keep it that way." Doing a last look over the area, Naruto left a clone to watch over the colonists whilst he shushined back towards the colony.

It only took a minute to cover the distance, and arriving at the battle site Naruto found himself just in time to help deal with an assault of half a dozen Creepers who shambled up behind a wave of charging colonists. Realising that the Thorian had understood their intent of not killing the colonists and was trying to use it against them, Naruto quickly came up with a plan to show it the error of its ways.

"Wrex! With me! Kaidan, Liara lift!" His barked order came as he reached where the team had taken cover, and to their credit none of them so much as paused before following his orders, the two biotics lifting the two leading colonists helplessly into the air as Wrex hurdled over his cover and activated his barrier.

"Good to see you brat, was starting to think you were going to let me win this one..." Following in Wrex's wake, Naruto decided not to mention the colonists he had already dealt with, he preferred a happy Krogan who was mad at the enemy rather than at him.

The two unleashed their shotguns, the blasts tearing apart two of the Creepers even as the colonists poured fire on Wrex's barrier, which wavered and cracked but remained intact as the two covered the last few metres into close combat. From there it quickly became a rout for the colonists, though the Thorian didn't seem to realise the loss of its advantage as Naruto and Wrex sent the colonists who had been acting as shields flying aside, leaving the Creepers exposed as the rest of the team poured fire onto them.

"I'll deal with these two, Wrex!" The Krogan turned to him with an animalistic snarl, obviously annoyed that there was going to be 'strategy' behind the fight, though his snarl morphed into a predatory smile as Naruto pointed at another group of Creepers that were spawning from the ground near the cockpit of the downed freighter.

"Smash!" The Krogan didn't need telling twice, reactivating his barrier as the last of the Creepers trying to attack them dissipated into a gooey puddle with the now familiar crack of a sniper rifle, some kind of dirge on his lips as Wrex rushed forward as fast as he could towards the new enemy.

"Well done Naruto, that seems to have been most of them, the Thorian obviously tried to throw most of them in the front two lines of defence. Kaidan, sweep the area with Garrus and Tali, I want all the colonists disarmed just in case they wake up and no other surprises. I will take Liara and Wrex to sweep the ship, the colonists had access to explosives and we really do not want the Thorian trying anything..." That left him and Ash to move towards the entrance, Ashley knew the layout of the colony which was good as Naruto hadn't even stopped off before moving onto deal with the attacking Geth.

"So my white knight, what's the plan?" Blushing slightly at the exaggerated tone of awe in Ashley's voice as the two moved off at a jog, Naruto gestured round a little confusedly.

"Well, you tell me where this crane is, I crack the skulls of anyone stupid enough to get in our way Ashley-chan. Just make sure that I don't..." Naruto stopped dead as he finally got a ping from his chakra sensing, muffled though it was by the mist of nature chakra that the Thorian seemed to be emitting through it's spores, Ashley looking at him in concern as he pulsed his chakra again to get a fix on the chakra's position.

"Naruto, you okay there?" Getting a response from his second pulse Naruto nodded, pointing over to the left and deeper into the main body of the colony.

"I can sense what I sensed in orbit again, it's that way but down, which given what we were told about the Thorian means that they are down in the tunnels with the damn thing. " Ashley nodded and the two took off again, faster than before as she directed them.

"Well the entrance is supposedly next to the cargo crane, which makes sense given the colonists were very quick to move us on from the area when we were here before, it's not far now..." They found their way blocked by several improvised barriers, the colonists seemingly having put them in place before rushing to the battle, and though Naruto could have just leapt over them that would have left Ashley behind and dangerously alone in hostile territory.

"Do you trust me?" Their eyes met for a moment before Ashley nodded without the slightest hint of doubt in her face, though she did make a slightly disapproving look when he grabbed her waist firmly with both hands.

"Naruto, is this really the..." With a chakra enhanced leap they took off into the air and landed on the other side of the barrier, Ashley making a slight 'shout' of surprise at the sudden change in motion.

"Wait a minute..." Naruto couldn't help but grin as he leapt over the next barrier, being forced to relinquish his grip as they landed, four Creepers shambling from the shadows to face them.

"Did you... Did you think I was making a move on you?" Contrary to popular belief Naruto wasn't clueless when it came to women, okay he had been at the academy but he had grown up a lot since then damn it. Discharging his shotgun and grinning as two of the Creepers collapsed, Naruto saw Ashley turn red in the face even as she 'head' shotted one of the remaining two.

"O-of course not..." Deciding to try out Jane's suggestion of trying to create a new move that mimicked biotic powers, Naruto summoned up some of his chakra to his hand even as Ashley rolled away from the thing's grasping tendrils, concentrating on making the chakra condense to give it some more power.

" **This will be good, make sure to put a shel..."** The Kyuubi's advice came a second too late, Naruto raising his hand and forcing the chakra out of his body as fast as he could. Agony encased his arm as a blue shockwave shot forth from his hand, the Creeper lasting barely a moment against his power before disintegrating entirely, along with most of the house behind it.

Looking at the partially melted and sparking armour that covered his burning arm, Naruto shrugged as he felt his healing factor kick in, turning back to a gaping Ashley with his usual foxy grin.

"Maybe a little too much power... Now, how about we discuss the fact that you merely felt this wasn't the right time to make out, rather than actually protesting at the thought itself?" If looks could kill, the rapidly morphed glare Ashley summoned could possibly have done just that, though the scarlet tinge on her cheeks diminished the effect to the point Naruto felt safe just laughing it off for now...

With the fact that Ashley seemed pissed at him meaning that they couldn't leap over any more of the barriers it took them a little longer than Naruto would have liked to work their way over to the main cargo crane area, approaching only to see Jane and the others in a standoff with a middle aged man with a pistol. Judging by the fact the man was talking to Jane it seemed he was resisting the Thorian's control for the moment, but given what Naruto had seen happen to the man he had rescued down in the tunnels he knew that resistance would not last much longer.

"The pain, it makes it so hard to resist..." Luckily the pair of them had approached from the far side of the cargo crane due to the obstacles put in place by the colonists, meaning that the man hadn't seen their arrival and allowing them to sneak closer to the stand off...

"It wants me to stop you, it wants me to end you... But I won't!" The pained determination in his voice reminded Naruto of something, but as the man brought the gun towards his head Naruto realised what he was going to do. If he had maybe two or three more years practice with his pistols he might have been able to make the shot to disarm the man, but there was no chance of that happening right now. Whipping his hand to his grenade pouch, Naruto made his play, hoping that the new armour wouldn't throw his aim off any more than his old armour had.

"I won' Argh!" The pistol was knocked from the man's hand by the kunai embedding itself into it's handle, though Naruto winced at the spray of blood that came from the finger he had accidentally half-severed with his hasty shot.

"You took your time with that shot..." Jane's comment as she rushed forward to subdue the man was uncalled for, but it was Ashley's follow up jibe as the Commander none too gently clobbered the man with the butt of her shotgun that really pissed him off.

"Messy too, and you call yourself a professional..." As they finished covering the 40 yards between where they had been stood and the now unconscious man, Naruto knelt and jerked the kunai from the man's now probably ruined side arm.

"I didn't see either of you making that shot, so shall we just assume that you would have made an even bigger mess if you had tried?" Point to me Naruto thought, as both women flinched at the riposte, eliciting a deep chuckle from Wrex whilst Liara knelt to apply medi-gel to the man's hand.

"Man's got a point, though why he had to throw that toothpick instead of using a gun I don't know. Now, can we get on with the fighting, from what you guys have told me this thing is going to be the fight of a century!" Typical Wrex, it reminded Naruto of Chouji to be honest, always thinking about his next meal or the next fight.

"We will just shift the cargo container and then we can head down, I want..." Naruto found himself distracted from Jane's orders as he pulsed his chakra once more, the world lighting up to his senses in a totally different way as he focussed on it, breathing deeply as he stretched his senses outwards...

No, no, no, no! eyes shooting open Naruto turned off to the left of the opening and rushed over to where some salvage had been piled up next to one of the buildings, not caring about how out of place his lifting of a boulder almost the same size as he was out of the way was. He hear Jane call out to him but the words were muffled as he found exactly what he feared buried about halfway through the salvage dump.

"Ino..." Looking down, mind still reeling at what he had just unearthed, Naruto felt Jane approach his left side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto, what is... Oh." Jane quieted as she laid eyes on the lower half of a stone leg, the break stopping just before the knee...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And cut! Or in this case, snap off at the knee :P Feros is pretty canonical apart from the reaction with Jeong and Fai Dan surviving, but with the added Naruto elements the actual confrontation with the Thorian is going to go very differently...
> 
> People didn't seem to like the idea of Naruto finding a person on Feros but unfortunately I cannot please everyone all of the time, so Ino (or at least some of her) has been found. As you can imagine, Naruto is going to be pissed at this finding even more than he already is at what the Thorian did to the colonists, poor poor Thorian...
> 
> What do people think?
> 
> Defias Out


	13. Fury Rages

"I would get upset that the little runt was stealing all of the killing here, but having seen what he did to those Creepers... Even I am not that pig headed." Wrex's surprisingly calm comment seemed to summate the general mood of the entire group as they followed Naruto through the labyrinth of tunnels underneath Zhu's Hope, though given Liara's almost awed expression at the display of 'biotics' Naruto had displayed Jane could help but wonder if the Krogan had been purposefully understating his reaction to the brutal efficiency they followed in the wake of.

As a veteran of two of humanity's greatest engagements since First Contact, Jane knew that she could seem almost unstoppable on the battlefield when she got 'in the zone', but Naruto made her best look mediocre. The first two Creepers the young ninja had come across after finding the stone remnant were essentially vapourised by the biotic blast that Naruto tossed in their direction without even slowing down, the steam rising from his arm concerning her even if Naruto showed no visible sign of being hurt from the attack.

The next dozen or so were torn apart by claws of what the boy called chakra, each barely able to react before the boy dismembered or tore them apart before moving on. This was not to say Naruto was okay, the Creepers 'blood' had eaten heavily into his armour now where it wasn't covered by the claws, Jane would be surprised if the suit was still functional at this point let alone actually able to protect him. Finally though, Naruto slowed to a stop at the end of a corridor, allowing the others to slow from the run they had been forced to keep whilst keeping up

"Well, *pant*, at least we know that Naruto will be able to deal with this Thorian creature when we find it. I only hope that he calms down..." Ashley's comment and sudden cut off would have amused Jane if she wasn't struggling to deal with the size of the creature in front of them herself.

"That's a plant? I call bullshit!" It took a moment for Jane to realise that she had been the one to speak the sassy comment, though Wrex's chuckle followed by the readying of his shotgun seemed to prove it had been good for morale at least.

"Well bullshit or not Shepard, unless the brat has any other hidden surprises we might be here for a while blasting that thing." Wrex had a point, the thing was certainly big enough that it would be able to ignore their fire for a while, and that was assuming it didn't have a way of fighting back.

"WHERE IS SHE!" Naruto's bellow caught them all by surprise, the large cavern reverberating with the force of his shout even as the claws on his hands dissipated, seemingly realising they would be of little use.

The Thorian didn't seem to respond for a moment and Naruto growled in obvious preparation to make his displeasure known physically, only to pause as there was a sudden movement in the distended tentacles that extended down to the platform in front of them.

"Weapons ready people!" Glancing round as she moved up next to Naruto, Jane was glad to see that the other three were already getting ready and taking cover before her call, none of them needed to be brought back to reality as it were.

Her gaze focussed on the Thorian once more, just in time for her to catch an... Asari? Drop from between the tendrils and land in a practiced crouch upon the floor. Rearing up as the tendrils retracted once more, the Asari stared at Naruto with a mixture of interest and wariness, barely giving her and the others a contemptuous glance as she did so.

"You... interloper! Impossible, the old growth has not seen your kind in..." Naruto moved so fast that Jane could have sworn he didn't actually traverse so much as teleport across the gap between him and the strange Asari, catching her by the throat and hefting her in the air even as the Asari's eyes widened and her arms glowed blue with biotics.

"Ah ah ah, despite the fact you seem to be a mere extension of this giant piece of fertiliser, take a look down." The Asari actually did as Naruto suggested, her eyes widening slightly as she realised that Naruto had not only picked her up but hefted her back so that she was hanging over the gaping chasm the Thorian was perched over.

"You try anything and I will let go, whilst I am sure that the big guy can just produce more of you whenever it likes, you piss me off and I will really let loose on it and I am sure it realises what a bad idea that is." Compared to the almost frothing berserker they had followed down here, Jane was actually more concerned with the now icy calmness that Naruto exuded as the Asari's biotics faded as quickly as they appeared.

"Threats and brutality, the old growth knew that you would be just like the others, the cold ones who tried to slay the flock." Jane almost didn't want to believe what she was hearing, it almost sounded like the Thorian was acting... protective of the colonists it had infected.

"Because mind control and pain therapy for those who try and resist your control is so diplomatic and refined..." Ashley's sarcastic comment seemed to catch all of them off guard slightly, before Naruto laughed slightly and brought the Asari closer to his face.

"You claim to want to 'protect' those people, but you merely see them as disposable tools to further your own goals, which makes you the lowest of the low in my books... Now, I will ask nicely one last time before I get really angry. Where. Is. She..."

"Would you believe that the Thorian was the one who saved her from the Exo-geni excavations? Kami above Naruto you can be troublesome at times..." The voice, so different from the Asari's original tone despite still coming from her mouth seemed to freeze Naruto in place for a moment before the snarl returned full force.

"Shikamaru? Don't tell me this thing..." The Asari seemed to struggle for a moment before shrugging lazily.

"When I woke up there were these alien people who were getting slowly wiped out in a guerrilla war against an enemy even greater than the one we faced Naruto, given the hopelessness of the situation I didn't let them wake Ino-chan up and in return for my help had them bring her with us as we retreated underground. It was there that most of the aliens were 'collected' by this giant testicle's spores, though given my experience with Ino they had very little effect on me." The Asari started to spasm for several seconds before it's face turned to a snarl.

"Quiet flesh, this was not part of your deal! Your 'friend' wishes to destroy the old growth and that is not permissible!" Jane knew she should have just let the three continue talking but she had to try and take command of the situation before Naruto did something rash.

"Given that you enslaved the colonists and it was clearly against their will, how did you expect us to react? And you realise that allowing Naruto to talk to his friend is probably the best chance you have of him not tearing your bloated ass into small pieces right? You tell him where his friend is and answer our questions about Saren, then we can work out where we go from there." Whilst she couldn't condone the enslavement of the colonists, Jane also knew that for a being over 50,000 years old 'normal' social conventions probably didn't apply, that and if it had information on the reapers and the Protheans it could be a veritable treasure trove of information for them.

"Won't work, this troublesome plant doesn't seem to understand normal logic, as far as it is concerned you are all a set of mice that have tried to encroach on a cat's lair... Useful only for amusement or as sustenance. I haven't much time, the only reason I wasn't fully absorbed by this thing was because then it couldn't make use of my tactics, my chakra is nearly gone. She's over..." The strange voice prompted the asari to raise it's left hand in an obvious attempt to gesture at something, only for her expression to change into a snarl a moment later and try to bring it clawing for Naruto's face.

"Bad move..." With a blast of chakra Naruto decapitated the asari, the blast continuing forwards and slamming into the main body of the Thorian with such force that it's massive body shook with a ear piercing shriek.

"Flesh threatens us! Exactly like the corrupted one did when it came to 'bargain' with us, but this one is with few allies, I will crush you!" Even as Jane turned to the new location of the noise, another asari appearing from a pod to their left, the tentacles that had deposited the first Asari swung round with surprising speed to bludgeon Naruto off the platform.

"Naruto!" Ashley's cry prompted the rest of the squad into action, Jane only reassured by the still strong vital readings on her HUD to prevent her slipping into her own rage as the Asari began to glow blue with biotics.

"Wrex, you and Liara deal with our clone pest, Ash and I will see what effect ME rounds have on something that size." Wrex nodded grimly, all notes of humour gone from his voice as he activated his barrier just in time to tank the clone's throw, Liara responding in kind to knock the clone back into one of the threshers rising from the ground behind her.

Over the next minute the pair of them poured dozens of rounds into the Thorian, causing it to make the same keening angry screech it had when Naruto had hit it before, but it didn't seem to have any other noticeable effect. The only good thing was that the sounds of fighting was audible from below them, which meant that Naruto had managed to survive what looked to be a very long fall.

Giving a quick look down at the explosions and bursts of light, Jane had a sudden idea that had her grab Ashley's barrel before she could start firing again.

"This is getting us nowhere, but I think we can bring the thing down..." Gesturing over to where one of the gigantic tendrils that seemed to be holding the Thorian up entered the ruins, Jane saw the grin on Ashley's face mirror her own, the biggest kill of the day could still be theirs yet.

Despite the trouble the Asari clone was giving Liara and Wrex with her biotics, the two were able to keep her contained along with the waves of Creepers due to the narrow corridors and the cover that the Creepers seemed incapable of utilising, meaning that Jane and Ashley were mostly unimpeded as they ascended several piles of rubble to her first target. She only hoped that Naruto would be out of the way when they dropped this thing, otherwise he really wasn't going to be happy.

!"£$%^&*()_+

Naruto was pissed, to the same level he had been when Gaara had stupidly threatened Sakura-chan before the robot invasion had begun, even as his shotgun blew another Asari clone apart. From the little Shikamaru had been able to tell him before his chakra had fully run out and he had been fully absorbed by the Thorian Ino was alive, though where in this labyrinth was anyone's guess, and with the Thorian's attention firmly on him he had no time to search for her just yet.

The loss of the lazy but brilliant tactician hadn't sunk in fully yet, and Naruto knew that he would struggle with it later, but for now his blood was singing for vengeance and the Thorian would pay for it's arrogance.

"Your flesh will feed the old growth's power!" Another clone unleashed her biotics in a turbulent maelstrom that threatened to rip through his chakra armour before he pivoted out of the way and allowing the warp/throw combination to tear into the wall behind him.

"You talk too much." Coming from him Naruto knew that was probably a little 'pot, meet kettle' from an outside point of view, but if there had been one thing he had not hated so much about the robots it was that they didn't say anything or make many noises in general really.

Slipping closer as two of his clones sliced through a dozen Creepers standing between them before dispelling due to the acidic goo they excreted, Naruto ducked under a hastily thrown punch from the clone even as the Thorian above him gave another screech in pain, Jane-chan and Ashley-chan were obviously succeeding in their task to sever the thing's roots. Seeing the Asari clone falter for a moment as the Thorian tried to redirect it's attention to the pair trying to fell it, Naruto stepped in and in a single motion threw the clone up, slamming it directly into the distended body of the Thorian.

"Oi, you ignore me and I am coming back up there!" Given the rapid appearance of three more clones behind him at that statement, Naruto knew his distraction attempt had worked, swivelling round with a grin on his face even as he patted himself on the back for letting himself get flicked off the platform.

The Thorian had more than enough biomass to throw at them to overwhelm them if they stayed in one group, at least to the point that Naruto would have had to use more powers than he already had to get them out of trouble, so instead Naruto went for a tried and tested tactic that had worked against the robots as well. For all it's vaunted power, splitting it's attention in at least three directions worked a charm in reducing it's effectiveness to manageable levels, Creepers slower and less agile whilst the Asari clones were mostly limited to brute force methods and basic biotics.

"I will admit, I can understand why the teme said my shadow clones were annoying now..." Slipping under two throws Naruto was forced to hunker his shoulder down to tank the third, wincing as he skidded backwards several feet.

"Two can play at this game though..." Powering up for another of his bastardised throws Naruto heard the Kyuubi rumbling in the back of his mind.

" **Your chakra points in our arm are going to fail catastrophically if you carry on using that move with your shitty control. As much as your arm exploding would amuse me, I want this giant piece of shrubbery to feel my displeasure first, so stop messing around and unleash my power properly."** The Kyuubi's comment amused Naruto eve as he held back a pained grimace as he released his power, annihilating one of the clones and sending another flying backwards due to force produced.

' _You do realise one of these days I will get you to admit you care Fox-teme? And no thanks, given how badly that thing is tilting now Jane-chan will probably only need to destroy one more supporting tentacle and down the thing will go!'_ If the Kyuubi was offended by his insult it showed no sign as it's power pulsed, intercepting a warp that ate into the chakra shroud rather than Naruto's uninjured arm.

" **And you think that will be enough? You know better than anyone that merely cutting the head off a snake doesn't mean that the body will die. Something of that size will have a backup plan... If it doesn't then it doesn't deserve to have survived this long."** Kyuubi had a point, which was why Naruto had his clones currently destroying as many possible connections the Thorian had leading outside this cavern as they could, if it did have some back up plan like the snake teme did then he wanted to contain it here.

"Wait! The old growth..." The sudden change in tone in the remaining Asari clone's voice indicated that the Thorian had probably realised it was losing it's battle.

But even as Naruto paused, to see what it was going to try and bargain for it's life, there was a third large explosion and a long screech from the Thorian's main body before it started dropping downwards. For a second Naruto thought it wouldn't be quite enough, the sound of the remaining tendrils straining against the Thorian's weight indicating that it might just survive, but then with an final snap one of the tendrils broke in half. Even as the other tentacles rapidly followed suit Naruto saw the clone in front of him dissolve with a pained cry, indicating that the Thorian had lost it's last semblance of control and this was truly it's end.

Or that's what it wanted them to think, Naruto thought rather suspiciously as the thing's giant body fell several hundred feet to the bottom of the cavern to land with a heavy, wet squelch. The Asari's death before the Thorian's main body had hit the bottom seemed a little too convenient, but he had clones that could keep an eye out for whatever it might be planning, it was defeated and he had more urgent business to take care of.

Whilst the Thorian's chakra hadn't been dispersed by it's 'death' it's spores seemed to be eliciting less chakra, which given Shikamaru had already given him a direction to look in meant that as long as Ino hadn't suffered anymore damage there was a chance he could still save her.

"I'm coming Ino-chan, you know Sakura-chan is going to be pissed that I woke you up first..." That was if Sakura hadn't been awakened previously like Shikamaru had, or her stone body destroyed in some battle or...

" **Stopping being so negative brat, it is far less fun mocking you if you are being pessimistic about everything in the first place. You survived as did these two, so pinky should be fine as well, wherever she is..."** Shaking his head to dispel his negative mental thoughts, Naruto took off at a jog back up to where the others were, whilst he wanted to find Ino as quickly as possible it would get Jane-chan off his back if he got her and the others involved.

That and if he used any more chakra he would risk having the Kyuubi mocking him for ages as he overloaded his chakra points, whilst he didn't think it was being serious about his arm being blown off he could never be entirely sure...

"Naruto!" The call from Jane pre-empted the woman running up to him, her face full of concern and relief as she eyed him up for injuries, though thankfully she restrained from hugging him given that after all that fighting he was essentially one giant bruise.

"I am okay taichou, just a little bruised from the knock, everything okay up here?" Given Wrex was currently covered in so much Creeper blood that it looked like he had been bathing it, grinning to him with the brutal savagery that seemed to be the Krogan version of joy, it didn't seem to have been too difficult.

"Shepard, we have a live one over here!" Ashley's call attracted all of their attentions and as they moved off in her direction Naruto was interested in what they would find, hopefully whatever it was would make up for the pain this mission had been in general otherwise he was going to let the Kyuubi loose to vent his frustration over everything...

!"£$%^&*()_+

It was... strange, opening her eyes for the first time but having memories of the growth that had come before her, the world around her vibrant and alive with the spores of her progenitor that quickly adapted to her presence and gave her an awareness that the human memories she had received just couldn't match.

Before she could appreciate the life and newness that she was being immersed in there was a shift on the edge of her awareness, the cold and chaotic feeling that had so terrified the old growth. And it was coming, for her...

She stood on her... legs was what the flesh had called them, and despite her uncertainty in the motion she did her best to stumble away from the feeling as fast as she could. The old growth had overplayed it's hand against the flesh that this feeling had belonged to and it's vengeance had been swift and deadly even to something as old and powerful as her creator, and now it seemed it was coming for her...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And we shall leave it on that cliffhanger for this chapter I think, more than enough story development to keep you guys happy for a while longer. What do we think of the Thorian fight? Too easy? Too boring?
> 
> I like to think the Thorian's back up plan adds a bit of interest, even if Naruto had already taken the possibility into account. Shikamaru being absorbed into the Thorian? Possibly a bit OC but I can see the lazy strategist making the choice if it meant protecting Ino until another one of their kind appeared, even if that possibility was remote.
> 
> Aftermath of the Thorian, finding Ino and the Thorian's offspring to come in the next chapter. Let me know what you think guys!
> 
> Defias


	14. Feros Fallout

Stumbling over the rocks and roots that littered this passage to the surface, she suddenly felt rather than saw the flesh's arrival, appearing behind her in a burst of speed to knock her to the ground. She tried to crawl away, perfectly aware that the feeling of powerlessness she currently felt was something the old growth had relished causing in others, but a foot stomping down hard on her back put an end to that attempt quickly enough before it relented for a moment and flipped her onto her back.

"P-please, I mean you no harm..." It was ironic, her first words were the same as the ones that the old growth had ignored pitilessly so many times before wrestling full mental control of his thralls, even as she looked up into the deep blue eyes of her executioner.

"Interesting..." But the blow didn't fall, no sharp pain or ripping of flesh from bone as he had done so easily with the old growth's flesh clones, the flesh merely looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and determination as if weighing up whether she was worth the effort of killing.

"I am not the old growth flesh..." Pausing in her speech as the flesh's eyes narrowed, she frantically tried to work out what she had done wrong, holding her hands up pleadingly.

"Please, I do not know what else I should call you..." It was strange, she found herself wishing that she was right about her guess in a way that the old growth had never really understood, it had been something many of it's thralls had memories of doing before it had taken control.

"Convince me that you are not or ever plan on being like the Thorian again, and then I may tell you my name." A name, that was what the flesh called their specific designations, just like they referred to the old growth as this 'Thorian'.

"Thank you, though I do not know how I can convince you of such a feat... I am not sure what I am myself." It was strange, the leftover instincts from the old growth were screaming at her to lie, promise that she was nothing like the old growth in order to ensure the flesh would let her live.

But instead of that, or the violence it demanded in place of talking, she chose to follow the strange feeling she had gotten the moment she had first made eye contact with the flesh. It was different from the old growth, making her feel that telling anything but the truth would end very badly for her, even if her unsure answer had her mentally awaiting the summary execution she had initially expected.

"Huh." The single syllable from the flesh seemed to change it's entire demeanour, removing the boot it had placed on her... chest? and shifting backwards slightly, stabbing the spear it held into the concrete next to where it was stood with frightening ease.

"So no memories or urges from the Thorian? No spores currently trying to take control of my mind and turn me to your will?" He sounded doubtful, but if he had truly not believed her then her body would already be fertiliser for the ground, so she was glad he was giving her even this half chance.

"There are these feelings that are screaming at me to... I think your race calls it lying?" At his slow nod she continued, urged on by the strange but familiar nudge in her mind.

"But there is another, strange to me but known at the same time, which seem to... tell me, tell me that if I tell you anything but the truth I would be reduced to food for new growths before I could possibly react. And from the fragmented memories I have from the growth that was, I put more faith in this feeling than in the being who foolishly stood against you." Whilst there were spores still in the air, she was far too emotional right now to do anything more than focus on herself.

"Troublesome..." The single word seemed to bring back a plethora of memories from the back of her mind that she hadn't even realised were there, the sheer magnitude of the onslaught making her cry out in pain due to the mental anguish she was suffering from.

"Not quite the response I was expecting, but it proves that Shikamaru was screwing with the giant teme's plans even at the end I think..." The memories were so new that it took her several moments to realise that she now knew who the blonde in front of her was, the dark haired flesh that had offered itself to the old growth in return for protection somehow knowing of the old growth's plan for... birthing her, and deciding to use the last of his strength to provide her with a small facet of his memories.

"Naruto... That is your name?" The changing expression on Naruto's face made her feel warm inside for some reason, and then knelt down so that the two of them were face to face.

"Shika was always too damn clever for his own good, though why he decided to save you is a mystery for another time I imagine. Now, assuming that you are telling the truth, I think the boss is going to need to come and decide what to do with you..." Before she could get too worried, memories from this 'Shika' allowed her to realise that the use of the word 'boss' merely meant that she was going to be taken to the original Naruto and meant the one who had nearly ended her short existence was merely a clone...

!"£$%^&*()_+

"She isn't any part of the Thorian or it's possible survival plans..." The sudden outburst from Naruto after Shiala had said her piece about being offered to the Thorian by Saren in exchange for what it knew about the Protheans was welcoming, but at the same time the surety with which he spoke meant that he knew something that they didn't, not that this would be the first time.

"How do you know that? Did it tell you whilst you were having all the fun on the lower levels?" Wrex was back to his usual moodiness Tali noted, though it was so natural for the warlord that she honestly could say that she found it more amusing than irritating most of the time.

"I was right about you wasn't I?" The quip, and the almost unilateral moment of pause before chuckling erupted from the weary group broke the tension that had been building ever since they delved into the ruins beneath Zhu's Hope, even Wrex nodding in appreciation at Naruto's point whilst Tali could only smile.

The change that had occurred in Naruto when he had found the stone leg had been more than slightly unnerving to Tali, especially with how he tore through the creepers and the Asari clones with such disregard for his own safety. Whilst she still couldn't fully reconcile that Naruto with the humorous and self-assured young human stood in front of her, Tali was just glad that the Naruto she had grown to... like so much, was still there at the forefront.

"Why do you believe me so easily though human? Not that I should complain given the alternative, but given what you did to the Thorian..." Naruto glanced at Jane after this questioning statement, the two of them managing to convey what must have been a small conversation at least with just several minor head movements and eye twitches, Jane finally shook her head before speaking authoritatively.

"Let's just say we have our methods Shiala and leave it at that, though just because you are not with the Thorian doesn't mean that your other allegiances are not in question. Let's head back to the Normandy, I would prefer to continue this conversation away from possible eavesdropping." Given Naruto's statement, as well as the silent conversation between the two of them moments before, Tali could tell that there was probably something waiting for them back at the ship for them to 'discover' that Naruto had found with his abilities.

"Should we not wait and help Naruto find whatever it is he was searching for first? Given the situation, I am sure that there is probably more than enough here for our salvage crew to be here for several hours even with our help." Garrus' question was similar to the one Tali had offered earlier, and though Tali was still not entirely sure of the Turian's motive, the point about the salvage was valid at least.

"Don't worry about that Garrus, I found what I was looking for when I was down there..." Tali wasn't the only one to be a little shocked by the revelation, especially given the way Naruto had acted before upon finding the leg in the rubble, though given his open smile she could only hope that whoever he had found was still in good enough condition for him to bring them back.

With the matter settled, even if Garrus was still clearly intrigued by what it was that Naruto could have found, they made good time back to the Normandy as even Wrex admitted he could do with a shower after several hours of fighting.

That was one of the things that did peeve Tali slightly, given the lack of Quarian orientated facilities aboard the Normandy she would have to wait until they were back on the Citadel to cleanse herself of the sweat and gunk she had built up, they were trying to install them aboard the Ontario but that would require several days in drydock that they currently didn't have. It probably sounded immature, but she felt sticky enough just from Naruto's training without actual combat being taken into account, was it too much to ask for the chance to feel a little bit more like a lady at times?

"Tali-chan!" She was drawn from her internal monologue about the unfairness of being a Quarian on combat missions by an arm wrapping around her shoulder and pulling her into a one armed hug.

"I found some Geth tech at the tower that I didn't think we would want to leave for Exo-Geni, given how they've gone all defensive about us seeing what else was inside there, so do you want me to leave it with you or transfer it to the Ontario if they have space? Given the fact we destroyed that Geth transport ship I imagine most of the Ontario's storage is going to be filled with that rather than anything else..." There was silence for a moment, both at Naruto's vastly improved mood and what Tali assumed was the shock of everyone else realising the Geth ship debris had completely skipped their attention, given the revelations regarding the Thorian the thought of all the Geth tech had skipped their minds.

"We're going to have to secure the ship before the Exo-Geni teams get here aren't we?" Ashley's tone was more than slightly dejected, one that Tali couldn't quite bring herself to sympathise with as she watched the entire groups demeanour change at the prospect of several more hours without being able to clean off.

"That ship is the first one of it's kind we know has been brought down, even with the damage from the fall and the crash it will give the Alliance Tech guys years of possible research to pursue..." Jane's tone was the kind of tone that Tali recognised for when she was trying to motivate herself into doing something she really didn't want to do by stating the reasons why she HAD to do it, even if she didn't want to.

"So if you guys do that, I will escort Shiala back to our ship given I need to go to the med bay anyway, though I will need Tali-chan to help me with the security systems of the little brig we have set up, I don't want to accidentally put the ship into lock-down..." Naruto's suggestion was met with several barely audible sighs of disappointment, having beaten them to the chance to offer the escort back, and because he also had the most legitimate reason to return, given the blood that still occasionally leaked down his arm from the rather excessive use of his 'biotics' from earlier.

The fact that, even after Shepard had given her assent and the rest of the team had started trudging back towards the tunnels where they had left the Mako, Naruto had started walking back with his arm still around her shoulders was something that had Tali doing an internal mental jig. She was sweaty, tired and starving, but she now got to relax back on the Normandy rather than being on guard duty for the next few hours with her favourite non-Quarian.

Perhaps there was a chance that they might even get some alone time, perhaps she could offer some 'personal lessons' on electronics, or persuade him to let her see what he had found down in the depths of the Thorian's lair...

"You okay Tali-chan? You've gone awfully quiet..." The question from the object of her thoughts made Tali glad that she had gotten to the point where she didn't automatically show her embarrassment in her body language, though given the increased power draws of her suits cooling systems she was surprised Naruto couldn't feel her blushing from their personal contact.

"Sorry Naruto, it's just been a long day. You know, that erm, thing you offered..." She wanted to straight up ask about the possibility of a massage after he had offered her after that evaluation session, but she was already struggling to repress the thoughts that were surfacing in her mind and to be so blatant about it would be beyond the pale in terms of what her mental imagery could handle right now.

"You want to do more training when we get back? I would have thought you were too tired but I admire your determination Tali-chan..." Tali almost panicked, the idea of Naruto's training now, after all she had already been through today? Then, she caught the smirk on the blondes face, before he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly as it twigged that he had been playing with her.

"I'm joking Tali-chan, I wouldn't let you train now even if you were mad enough to want to for whatever reason..."

' _That...That boshtet!'_ Despite the ever increasing blush on her face, and the urge to sock the annoying man in the face for riling her up like that, Tali couldn't help but lean into his embrace slightly as they carried on walking back up to the Normandy...

"You two, you do remember you are meant to be escorting me and making sure I don't run off anywhere?" Shiala's slightly tentative and shy voice broke the 'magic' of the moment, and Tali felt embarrassed that she had forgotten the ex-Asari commando had been there, though Naruto's amused chuckle managed to alleviate some of the embarrassment she felt.

"If Jane-taichou decides we can trust you, then you might understand how I can say I have had my eyes on you the entire time..." The response obviously confused Shiala, but she was intelligent enough not to fall into Naruto's obvious trap and ask him what he meant...

!"£$%^&*(

"Are you sure about this Naruto?" Jane's question was one that had been rattling round in Naruto's head for the last couple hours, ever since the crew had returned from guarding the Geth transport, the Exo-Geni team arriving just after an Alliance frigate pack so unable to do little more than secure the main body of the tower.

"Well Jane-chan, given the plan when we get back to the Citadel I don't think we can really expect to hide what's going on from the others much longer. Better that we tell them then force them to go digging for the questions..." Or, in ninja speak, Naruto wasn't at all happy about having to reveal his true past to anyone else.

Even if Wrex and Garrus had proven themselves on the battlefield, the potential number of leaks was already too high regarding his abilities, abilities that would become a lot less effective against the Geth if they knew what to expect from him. Still, it was becoming more difficult to hide what was going on out in the field, let alone when he started bringing stone statues on slabs aboard as 'personal items'.

Turning to his right, Naruto smiled at the peaceful expression on Ino's stony countenance from where she was placed in the Normandy's meeting room, a small chuckle breaking his moment of peace as Nirali offered up her two cents. The former service woman had fitted into her role as medical assistant to doctor Chakwas very well, as well as providing him and Jane with some much needed administrative support with their 'unofficial' businesses that he was slowly expanding.

"Naruto's right Commander, it is going to be hard enough keeping operational secrecy regarding Naruto from the Ontario's crew, if we are having to keep some of your strike team in the dark as well that can only mean trouble in the long run. Besides, it's not as if Naruto doesn't already track our every move off the ship after the attack on the Citadel..." Nirali paused just long enough to throw a 'I don't believe you' look as Naruto put on his best questioning glance, whilst it was probably obvious to most people that didn't mean he was going to admit to such things anytime soon.

"As long as the crew don't know Naruto is following them, then if they are compromised it will be easy for Naruto to find, uncover and apprehend them, or at least lead the rest of the team to them if needed." A good point, but Naruto's training and instincts were still screaming at him to maintain as much secrecy about himself as he could.

"I know what you mean Nirali-chan, but just because the risk is minimised doesn't mean I should just relax, given the level of the threat we are going to need every advantage we can get." Jane seemed to be of the same opinion, but as Dr Chakwas finished her examination of Ino's stone form she added her two ryo.

"Then don't tell them everything, it's not as if you have told the rest of us everything given you haven't told us how this is even possible..." She gestured at the statue in front of her with a measured wave of the hand before turning to give her assessment.

"It looks to be as clean a break as would be possible given the unusual circumstances, though we cannot be sure as to what effects such damage might have on the stasis you seem to have somehow maintained over her using these... Seals? For all we know she could be long dead when you do whatever it is you need to do to unlock it."

"She is still alive, the chakra coming from her form would have long since faded if this was not the case, it's why Jiraiya-Sensei had several back up seals imprinted on the slab bases, just in case something like this happened." The firm statement didn't come from Naruto, as even he was turning to eye their newest shipmate who had spoken with far more conviction in her voice than anyone who didn't know her full backstory would believe.

The new Thorian looked like an Asari, at least on the surface, but her body was an amorphous mix of plant cells that could shift and respond to her desires, she had under his directions already altered her skin colour from the leaf green she had been when his clone had first encountered her to the more usual deep blue of the all female race, and Naruto doubted her powers ended there.

Whilst she didn't have his old friend's mind for strategy as far as he could determine so far, the new Thorian had inherited a large amount of Shikamaru's memories and had a far hand to play when strategising for combat, or socially if the need arose. She was going to be the other big reveal for the day he had planned.

"How is it that someone who was 'born' less than a day ago knows more about your methods than we do?" Jane already knew the answer to her own question, but as the elevator dinged open to reveal the rest of the crew, Naruto managed to resist the urge to say something that was probably unprofessional.

"You called us Commander?" Garrus seemed to be the only one willing to show a level of professionalism as he, Wrex and Liara stepped out of the elevator, which given most of them had only been back on the ship for an hour after the Geth ship debacle was unsurprising.

"Please don't tell us this is more training..." Liara's muttering was too quiet for the others to pick up, but Naruto was passable at reading lips like most ninjas were taught in the academy, and he stepped forward to belay that concern.

"No training, not today at any rate..." Liara looked up sharply and blushed when she saw him looking at her, but he carried on in an attempt to avoid losing his momentum and possible will to carry on with this revelation.

"As some of you have probably realised, the Commander and the other Alliance members have been somewhat... vague when it comes to your enquiries into me, regardless of how subtle or well meaning your intentions have been." Garrus had the decency to look a little embarrassed at the obvious point that their probing had been noted, whilst Wrex merely scoffed and crossed his arms in his usual confrontational manner.

"You're surprised? In the fifty years that I've encountered and fought humans I've not met more than half a dozen of your kind who could keep up with me in a fight for more than a few minutes, then you and Shepard come along at the same time? At least hero over there has a background that lives up to her skills, yours couldn't scream cover story more if that was the opening title, though it has gotten better recently..." Staring down his unofficial partner, as a silence settled in the wake of the longest single period of talking any of them had heard from the mercenary warlord, Naruto suddenly broke out into a smirk.

"This has really vexed you, hasn't it?" Wrex didn't deem his question with a response, though the twitching eyebrow gave it away how much the lack of information was annoying him, Garrus taking over before the Krogan either lost his patience or tried to fight Naruto verbally, both of which would end badly for the cargo bay in general.

"At the risk of pointing out the... Hippo in the corner? I assume this all has something to do with the human statue and the Asari I've never seen before? Cause if they had been here earlier I would definitely have noticed." Typical Garrus, always ruining a good bit of fun with logic and reasoning.

"Well, kudos to you for noticing both of them Garrus, but before we go any further we have some forms for the three of you to sign..." It took a moment for his words to sink in, Wrex's eyes lighting up with fury as Tali separated herself from the other non-humans and stood off to one side.

"You knew?!" A moment later something akin to recognition gleaned in the Krogan's face, Tali having moved next to Naruto in that time before he extended his arm to push her slightly behind him, Wrex's fury one of the most possible results of the situation that came with such an onslaught of revelations.

"Haha..." The wheezing throaty laugh that erupted from the Krogan's throat a moment later most definitely wasn't one of the anticipated outcomes, the Krogan equivalent of rolling on the floor laughing lasting almost fifteen seconds before Wrex managed to get himself under control enough to speak once more.

"I've had contacts combing every dark hole and illegal facility in the Terminus trying to work out where you were sprung from brat, yet little Ms quirky here probably knew from the day we rescued her..." Still unsure whether this was merely a prelude to Wrex finally exploding into violence, Krogan were almost as unpredictable as Sakura-chan on her period after all, Naruto gave a quick nod when it became clear Wrex was waiting for a response.

"I thought the 'smoke bomb and grapnel hook' story sounded a little far fetched, especially as I've not seen you use either since." Wrex suddenly smacked his own head with his shotgun, making several people including Naruto flinch. "Relax kid, that was for not realising earlier that she knew, she was the only one of us 'aliens' who didn't ask questions about you... Now, you said you had papers."

As Naruto gestured towards Nirali, who had thankfully brought all the paperwork down with her, Jane spoke up to make it clear it wasn't just him that was still awaiting the inevitable explosion.

"Not that I'm complaining, as I like my cargo bay intact, but are you sure you are okay with this Wrex?" The Krogan shrugged and grabbed one of the three piles of paper.

"Of course I'm not okay, this whole thing has cost me considerable time and resources trying to find any leaks on the brat that needed plugging. But as you know I have been travelling the galaxy for over half a millennia, and you don't stay a merc that long without picking up secrets of your own. I could topple governments with the skeletons I have buried around the galaxy, and that's just since humanity decided to join the big quad club, so whatever this story is going to be I doubt it will be the worst I've heard."

"Wow, I definitely can't complain about this if Wrex is going to be the mature one for once, though I suppose as he is the oldest of us here he had to act his age at some point..." Whilst Garrus chuckled at his own joke as he grabbed his own copy of the agreement, it was surprisingly Liara that caught the amused glances the alliance crew in Naruto's direction, her eyes widening as something obviously clicked in her head even as Naruto mentally ummed and ahhed about taking the reveal moment for himself.

"Impossible, whilst I know little about human culture I know the basic facts, the oldest living human recorded has only reached 165 cycles. But the Thorians comments..." Her comment seemed to finally remind Wrex of that particular shouting match, glancing up from the notes to eye Naruto quizzically.

"She has a point, the Thorian definitely made it sound like it had encountered humans a long time ago, which should have been impossible..." Naruto shrugged non-committedly before a cough from Jane made it clear she wanted the three of them put out of their misery.

"Let's just say that, depending on how you look at it in terms of age, I should be the one calling _you_ a brat Wrex..." The shocked look on the Krogan's face made his entry into the story all the sweeter, it would still be heavily edited of course, but perhaps Wrex wouldn't be quite so eager to fight him all the time if he learned what he had done to those robots on his home world...

[]{}#%^*+=

"Liara, enough, let Naruto rest for now, I'm sure you can ask him some more questions later..." Jane was slightly surprised that it was the formerly shy archaeologist she had to order to leave Naruto alone, she had been concerned that Wrex would have wanted a 'proper spar' after Naruto revealed his greater than human capabilities, but the warlord had merely chuckled to himself before declaring he needed a drink and moving back to the elevator.

Garrus had questions, but he had been content to ask Ashley regarding the pressing ones, the C-Sec agent understanding how difficult it had been for Naruto to discuss the fall of his world once more. Liara however, once roused from her shocked state at the revelations given to her, had almost physically thrown herself at the exhausted ninja.

"But commander, this is potentially the biggest find since element 0, in fact it could be even bigger! The fact that Naruto and this Ino were discovered on different worlds, Prothean colonised worlds, points to the fact that they are pre-Prothean in origin! Given the almost barren records we have of the Protheans themselves, proof that they weren't in fact the first major space faring race is something scientists can only speculate about!"

As good as it was to see so much life in the sometimes withdrawn Asari, Jane was having to resist the urge to snap at her for her lack of sensitivity, the joys she was exhibiting about the race that committed genocide on Naruto's people was either a show of complete emotional obliviousness or a lack of caring about what Naruto had been through.

"Liara-San, that race committed themselves to wiping out the entire population of a world, a population that couldn't have given due cause to such an action as we hadn't even come technologically close to space travel when the invasion began..." The blunt interruption by the new Thorian, who had asked to be named Mari based on the memories she had received from Naruto's friend, seemed to break through whatever wall Liara had up that had prevented her understanding Jane and the others subtle attempts to steer her away from the topic.

"By the goddess, I'm sorry Naruto, I was just so excited that I didn't think... I'll just go." The abject look of horror on the young woman's face was actually slightly reassuring even as Jane winced at Liara's dejected tone.

"It's fine Liara..." The quiet interjection from the target of their discussion was the first thing he had spoken since he had finished describing being put into stasis, Jane having taken the opportunity of using Nirali's perspective to given Naruto something of a break.

"I made peace with what happened weeks ago, I mean we are talking at least 50,000 years ago, so the fact we are here now means that those robots bit the dust somewhere along the way as it is. As my teacher liked to preach 'There's no point in holding grudges against dead men, for they will always have the last laugh.'" It was a side to Naruto that she hadn't seen before, even as he stood and pulled the still apologising Liara into a comforting hug, and it struck her that this was probably as close to the real Naruto as any of them had ever gotten.

"Still, I think we could all do with a rest after today, I will get Joker to set us a course for the citadel now that the Alliance have things under control." The comment about their next destination caused Naruto to look gratefully in her direction, which brought a smile to her lips even as they all started to make their way to the elevator.

' _One smile and you're feeling giddy? You need to get laid girl, and judging by the way Liara's not let go of him yet, your competition just went up by one.'_

And of course, her inner voice just had to speak up and ruin the mood, even if Jane was still fighting the urge to ask Naruto to come to her quarters for a 'private debriefing'...

[]{}#%^*+=

It had been a challenging month, even by Miranda's high standards, since she first breezed through Citadel security with a fake name and identity. Given the nature of the two tasks the boss had given her, which were almost conflicting given the skills of the target in question, she had been forced to miss the first opportunity to infiltrate the Normandy to instead put focus on trying to find her preferred infiltrator for the easier of the two tasks.

Given this Naruto's ability to infiltrate the gangs on the citadel, for which he undoubtedly made use of those copies he could summon at will, it was doubtful that he would leave the security of the _Normandy_ anything like as sparse as it had seemed when she did her initial recee. That meant that she couldn't use any two-credit thief from the lower wards if she actually wanted to succeed, and there were only a few thieves of the sort of calibre she had set the bar at that would even consider allowing themselves to work for a tarnished group like Cerberus.

"You can decloak and stop wasting our time whenever you like Ms Goto, if you weren't interested in what I'm offering you wouldn't be here to begin with after all..." It was a calculated guess based on her gut feeling more than anything else, Goto was quite deserving of her shadowy and almost mythological reputation that came with the grey world of high class thievery, so there had been no alarms or reports of anything out of the ordinary from her security crew to back up the feeling of being watched.

"And given that one of your donors has recently come into possession of an item that I would quite literally kill for, you will excuse me for not assuming this is a trap intended to protect your interests..." The young woman's tone was filled with emotion, something that surprised Miranda based on the few action reports she had of the thief in action, the mixture of anger and grief making it clear that this was a topic to tread around very carefully.

"If you would prefer, I could have someone speak to whichever donor has this item and make it payment for the mission instead..." The Illusive man had made it clear that this mission was of top priority to Cerberus, and he would be more than happy to risk upsetting one of their donors to ensure the mission's success if it came to it, though the Illusive man could be _very_ persuasive if he needed to be.

Suddenly there was the feeling of cold steel at her throat and Miranda had to resist the urge to activate her barrier reflexively before unleashing biotic hell upon her hidden attacker, who spoke from by her left ear a moment later.

"Unless Cerberus has an assault force big enough to take down Donovan Hock and his assorted scum to hand then you will have even less luck than I have had, that man wouldn't trade his prize for anything. So, I will continue doing things my way in dealing with him, the question is of course, what should I do with you? Your efforts haven't gone unnoticed by the people looking for me, so you have potentially put a whole lot of trouble on my tale, even if you are telling the truth about this meeting not being a trap..."

This meeting was definitely not going the way Miranda had prepared for, obviously a mission had gone wrong for the master thief recently and whatever the losses incurred had been were still heavily affecting her emotionally, making her a far more dangerous potential opponent compared to the playful thief that was indicated in the reports.

"And regardless of whether I am telling the truth or not, you have probably done enough research and spying to know who I am and who I report to. So, the actual question is whether you want Cerberus helping you evade your pursuers, or whether you want us actively hunting you down as well?" Despite the rapidly derailing script, Miranda wasn't one of Cerberus' top agents for her looks, regardless of what some of the lower ranks said at times.

Whilst the blade at her throat would make quick work of her body suit, it was unlikely that Kasumi would act with sufficient certainty to beat her barrier if push came to shove, and despite not wanting to die Miranda had spoken the truth before. The Illusive man cared about his top agents, and would make Kasumi a very obvious _example_ of what happened to those that hurt Cerberus.

"This must be one hell of a job for the Illusive man's hand to be running it herself... I suppose it will be a good distraction if nothing else, as long as the price is right of course." Not exactly the best reasoning Miranda would have wanted from an operative for accepting a job, but as the blade was removed from her throat she decided that she had heard worse reasons as well.

"So then Operator Lawson, can I call you Miranda-chan?" The forced cheerful act annoyed her, which was probably it's purpose, but given the situation Miranda knew she would have to be diplomatic and not bring the insolent thief to task for her lack of professionalism.

Given the potential catastrophe that would occur if Kasumi was captured by her target, she needed Kasumi as cooperative as possible before the mission started...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: That seems as good a place to stop this chapter as any, especially given that it is competing for longest chapter in the story :P So, we have a plant being with Shikamaru's memories, Naruto's big reveal to the three non-human crew members that didn't already know about his past, AND the big meeting between Miranda and Kasumi.
> 
> Aren't I a nice author for giving you all of these things?
> 
> Kasumi's life has just gone south, with the mess with Donovan Hock and Keiji's death very clearly affecting her and making her a very different person emotionally, and professionally compared to how we see her in ME2 and ME3. Even so, she is still reputed as one of if not THE best thief in the galaxy, which means that she would have been top of the list for the plan to infiltrate a Spectres ship (and that's even without considering Miranda's concerns about Naruto's abilities, Spectres are feared throughout the galaxy for a reason.)
> 
> So we will have Ino awaking next chapter, along with more of Naruto's activities on the Citadel. I really want to have him unintentionally making all of the remaining gangs on the Citadel effectively turtle up and bolster their defences by the end of ME 1...
> 
> Let me know what you guys think, as always, see you again soon
> 
> Defias


	15. Sleeping Beauty and family feuds

The moment Ino became aware of her surroundings, a sign that Jiraiya-sama had assured them would only happen when they were being awakened from her stasis, she was aware that something was wrong.

Pain arced upwards from her right leg, and she could hear multiple people moving around her whose chakra barely alerted her of their presence. Remembering that the layer of earth around her would remain in place until she broke it, Ino tried to sit up.

The moment the earth around her started to fall away she lost control of her senses, waves of agony slamming into her with such intensity that she couldn't help but scream and thrash. The people around her tried to hold her down, speaking in a language that she didn't recognise as they held strange devices and items towards the lower part of her body, but given they were only civilians they didn't have a chance as she first sent one and then two of them stumbling backwards.

"Ino-chan!" His appearance at her side was like going from the occasional rain drop hitting her head to being underneath a waterfall, his chakra rolling over her and helping calm her down enough that she was able to process what was going on.

"Naruto, the pain..." Was this an unexpected side effect of the stasis? Was her pod defective?

Another wave of pain hit her as three of the civilians grabbed her right leg and held it down, Naruto grabbing her before she could do something to get them to stop, face devoid of the warm grin that was so often associated with him. One of the people holding her leg said something in that unknown language once more, and Ino was surprised when Naruto nodded before speaking to her once more.

"Ino-chan, you were injured whilst in stasis, we're going to get you fixed up, I swear on my nindo! But the doctors can't operate on you whilst you are struggling so much..." Naruto's words filled her with a strange emptiness, and lifting her head for the first time Ino stopped Naruto preventing her from looking down at her lower half with her best attempt at a stern look in these circumstances.

As she was able to see why the civilians were holding her leg down for the first time, Ino's desire to mentally destroy them for the added pain they were causing her rapidly disappeared, as the bleeding stump of her leg became the only thing she could see.

"What..." The trained part of her consciousness kicked in as another spurt of blood was ejected from her wound, counteracting the woozy feeling that was pervading her system, which she knew was because of her losing a large amount of blood.

"Talk later Ino-chan, I need you to trust me!" Naruto looked at her, in a way that she knew won him far too many arguments with the few surviving women of the ninja forces, and she nodded weakly.

"Do it now!" Naruto's shout/order seemed to be more than enough to kickstart the civilians into action, the two holding her leg down shifting to presumably stop the bleeding as Naruto kept a firm grip on her shoulders, keeping his eyes locked with hers as she felt them start trying to clean up her amputation.

"Stay with me Ino-chan, I'm here as I promised..." Naruto's constant talking was reassuring even as the pain intensified, and Ino lost track of time as she drifted into and out of consciousness with the pain.

She knew she should be more alarmed at the situation than she actually was, but Naruto could explain everything when the operation was over, especially what sort of bloodline caused the blue Kisame wannabe woman in the corner...

!"£$%^&*()_

Jane knew she didn't have to be here as she waited outside Ambassador Udina's private surgery for the revival of Naruto's friend finished, in fact Naruto himself had reminded her that there were several rather important things for her to be doing instead with the hour and a half she had been stood there, but Jane had seen the worry on his face and knew that having a friend there afterwards would be of more reassurance than he was prepared to admit.

The sound of a door opening made her look up from the draft of the Council report she had just finished writing, which made no reference to Mari or Ino in the action summary of their interaction with the Thorian. Whilst the Council would be informed of the latter's appearance in her verbal report, Jane was more than happy enough to admit she didn't trust her new employers not to end up leaking the information of what Naruto's friends sealed forms looked like to other Spectres.

If their reluctance to pass on Saren's Spectre operation data along wasn't enough, the fact that they had given the bastard access to the Eden Prime data was the cherry on that particular shit cake. But she could deal with that later, an obviously drained Naruto nearly collapsing into her greeting embrace as she went to greet him, allowing her to guide him back to the large White leather executive sofa she had been waiting on.

"Is she okay?" For a moment Naruto didn't respond before a tired smile appeared on his face and he leaned back, inadvertently pulling Jane into a leaning embrace, not that she minded as she looked up from her head's new resting place on his shoulder.

"She's confused, tired and angry about being injured whilst in stasis, but she dropped off to sleep before the doctors could even pump her with painkillers, so with some rest she will be okay enough for me to tell her about the rest of this giant mess we've ended up in..." His grin faded a little before a pained look came over him.

"I've no idea how I am going to tell her about Shika, but she's like you." Jane perked up at the comparison, only to see amusement in Naruto's expression as he finished. "The longer I don't tell you something, the more you will go all moody and angry with me when I do eventually tell you, it's an endearing trait..." He was deliberately trying to antagonise her in order to stop her worrying about him, something she had no problem in obliging him on as she shifted away so she could thump him in the arm.

"And don't you forget it, though I suppose I can offer an amnesty if there is anything you want to tell me..." Whilst she meant it as a joke, the slight wince that crossed Naruto's face made her regret giving the offer.

"Well, now that you mention it, you know those raids that we did on the Citadel gangs..." Jane could feel the urge to break her offer of amnesty already rising, and Naruto hadn't even told her what he had done yet...

!"£$%^&*()_+

Kasumi Goto was glad she had taken the time to do some digging on her newest target before starting her mission, as the list of things to this 'Naruto's' name was both impressive and worryingly lacking at the same time. Prior to 2 months ago he had a record as being a normal marine aboard the Normandy, but the dates didn't line up with the enlistment records that her Alliance contact was able to scrounge up, which screamed that he was undercover or Spec Ops as a minimum.

Combined with the fact that he was a frontline member of Spectre Shepard's frontline team ,despite his supposed average service history and his age, meant that he wasn't to be messed with lightly. When the Normandy returned therefore, Kasumi waited until both the Spectre and this 'Naruto' were on shore with their assault team before probing the Normandy's perimeter defences, best to have the most dangerous members away in case something went wrong...

_Blood pooling from the giant wound to Kenji's head, the world disappearing from around her as she rushed to her love's side..._

' _Live for me little dove...'_

_Sprinting away as bullets flitted around her, tears streaming down her face as her bloodied hands clenched, fury beginning to fill the gaping hole that had just been torn open in her heart..._

The burning anger threatened to well up inside her once more, but she managed to bury the feeling as she slipped between the guards at the Normandy's airlock entrance. Thankfully, the security measures in the hangar didn't seem to be anything special, certainly the Security officer hadn't accounted for the possibility of someone cloaking their way aboard the ship. Now she just had to wait for someone to come back aboard and she could sneak onboard with them, which given the guards changed every hour wouldn't be too long at all.

Kasumi only hoped that the source of the information she was going to steal didn't come back to the ship before she could get in and out, something about him just sent shivers up her spine. She wasn't one to believe in superstition, but the fact she had ignored her instincts only once before meant she was far more prepared to listen to them now, and the fact he had a fully armed Krogan with him only made the potential confrontation that much more important to avoid.

She felt sorry for whoever was going to end up being the Spectre's targets whilst she was on the Citadel, because the pair of warriors had looked ready to take apart a marine battalion as they reached the hangar lift...

[]{}#%^*+=

"Draak's down, how is this possible!" The cry of the Salarian bounty hunter Lasarin, who had arranged the group's pursuit of this particular bounty, was followed shortly after by a muffled scream as he to was dragged off into the shadows by their mysterious attacker.

As Fenix shifted next to the only remaining member of their group, an Asari who merely went by the name Vail, he couldn't help but let the feeling of despair affect him slightly as it dawned on him how fucked they were. This was meant to be an easy job, taking down a guy who had pissed off Barla Von, then taking anything of value back to the Volus in question. Even with the concerns of the target's evasion skills, a group of 8 hunters would have been enough to take down an angry Krogan warmaster or two.

They had spent a couple of days gathering intel, which backed up what the Volus had told them about the target, which Barla had rather unoriginally codenamed 'skull' for the motif on his helmet. The information hadn't been easy to get hold of at first, until he had been pointed in the direction of a rather dishevelled junk shop on the lower wards by one of his usual contacts, who swore that the owner was something of a up and coming information broker.

"Well, it looks like the rumours you obtained had some truth to them after all..." Vail's calm tone was somewhat counteracted by the way that she looked around nervously with her assault rifle up and ready, using her left hand to signal that Fenix should watch her back.

"Yeah, but a little late for us to realise that don't you think? Think we should try and make a break for it?" The junk shop owner had been a human girl who couldn't have been out of her teens, with the forced cheeriness of someone who was in over their head but knew that letting it affect them would merely make things worse.

Despite this, her information on Skull's location had been far more solid than any of the other information they had gotten, putting him inside one of the larger shop/storage warehouses on the lower wards, which was currently up for sale and therefore not occupied. Paying her 1000 credits, which was twice what she had asked for but was a good way to keep a potential source of information happy, Fenix had been surprised when the girl had grabbed his arm before he could leave.

She had then told him, in the hushed tone of someone who thought that revealing such information could well get her killed, that there were rumours about this Skull character. She said that he had already dealt with 2 other bounty hunter groups and delivered their corpses to C-sec in a grotesque and macabre manner, and it was rumoured that he had been the one behind the large number of mercenaries killed in the aftermath of the rocket attack on the new Spectre.

She had refused to say anymore when he had tried to press her for more information, and he hadn't wanted to risk upsetting a potential new source by getting physical, though as the unconscious body of Lasarin was thrown bodily at his feet from the shadows he felt he should have delved for further details. The Salarin was missing his prosthetic arm, and honestly looked like he had been beaten with said appendage when it had been removed.

" **Only 8 of you, I should feel insulted, but that would imply I thought you had a chance at actually succeeding."** The voice came from all around them, almost like the target was flitting from one place of the abandoned warehouse to another, but the speed of the directional changes should have made such a thing impossible.

"I suppose you wouldn't be open to offering leniency if we surrendered Skull?" Fenix barely resisted the urge to turn and face his 'partner' as she asked the question that was almost considered heresy amongst bounty hunters and mercenaries.

To surrender as a mercenary would show that you weren't prepared to follow your contract through to the last breath, which is what many of their employers expected without question, so if you were known to have surrendered as part of a contract then your name would be worth mud.

" **Interesting, you are the first out of the dozens of people to come after me to ask, I was sure it was going to be the human with you who broke first... Though, I have no time for dealing with you long term, so why shouldn't I just finish you now and save myself the hassle?"** The voice shifted from shadow to shadow around them, making it clear that Skull had been more than prepared for an assault if he had this many speakers set up to confuse them.

Despite his professional reservations, Fenix hadn't become a seasoned mercenary by being foolhardy, and he knew that unless they offered something substantial Skull wouldn't waste any time and give them an opportunity to try and come up with an escape plan.

"The location of two unofficial space stations used by smugglers and batarian pirates, as well as all the information I can get you regarding the ex-Spectre Saren..." The offer from Vail was surprising in both scale, as the space station locations were worth hundreds of thousands of credits by themselves to the right people, but also the offer regarding Saren implied Vail had an angle she was aiming for.

" **Interesting, though you obviously think you know something to offer me those specific items, and given their value you obviously want something in return as well as your life... Though why you think such items are of any interest to me is quite amusing, as my interests are clearly focused here rather than in the backwaters that you dragged yourselves from..."** If possible the shadows around them seemed to darken even further, Fenix frantically going through his own meagre collection of secrets and resources to try and come up with something that could possibly be worth their lives, not that anything he had was remotely as valuable as what Vail had just...

"You work for, or at least have some kind of relationship with the human spectre that's been causing the Council so many headaches since she ascended to the role, and I think that..." It happened so quickly that Fenix barely had time to register the shape appear out of the shadows in front of him before he found himself slammed into the ground with incredible strength, the Skull moving past him to grab Vail by the throat and hoist her in the air with terrifying ease.

" **You know much little one, far too much for me to just let you go now... And you will tell me what you know in great detail before I finally decide what to do with you..."** Fenix tried to force himself to his feet, only for movement from behind him to make him try and raise his weapon in Time to see a Krogan standing in front of him, shotgun butt moving rapidly towards him...

[]{}#%^*+=

"That's the lot, I have to say you do nice work when you get angry old man..." Wrex's tone was almost akin to when he had seen the pile of thresher maw meat in the cargo bay after the team first brought one down, though beneath his henged mask Naruto couldn't help but frown at the 'old man' comment.

" **You really aren't going to let that go are you?"** Since revealing his past Naruto had been approached by the warlord several times, along with Liara, Garrus and surprisingly Tali.

Whilst the three new members of their secret keeping club had asked about various parts of his old society, Tali had just spent time with him and talked about normal things as if nothing had changed, which was a nice steadying influence for Naruto given the wave of memories all the questions brought up. Wrex on the other hand seemed to have taken Naruto's joke about being older than he was to heart, the Krogan using several different titles and forms of address for him now depending on how respectful the Krogan was feeling.

Worryingly, 'old man' was one of the nicer terms...

"Not until you're dead and buried for at least a decade, then I might consider it. But that's not the important thing here, is it Aleena? I still have a contract out on your head, the only one I've never completed..." Surprised that Wrex knew the Asari he was currently holding in a neck choke, Naruto was unsure whether or not he should put her down, though given she knew of his affiliations if not his identity then he probably didn't want to let him try and kill her just yet.

"Really Wrex? That contract hasn't been valid for more than a century, though you were always one to hold grudges. And besides, it was a mercenary named Aleena on the contract right? I go by Vail now..." The Asari seemed a lot less intimidated by the situation now, going so far as to smile in a clearly teasing manner as she spoke to Wrex despite being unarmed and clearly in a bad position.

" **You know her Wrex?"** Given the conflicting emotions that flittered across Wrex's face it was clear that the two had some history, even before he spoke in the grating tone that was the equivalent of a 'soft tone' for a Krogan.

"You remember that story I told you, the one about the old Salarian space station? This is her. You might as well put her down kid, if she really wanted to fight or escape she could have made this whole thing a lot more difficult for you..." Hearing that, Naruto cast the now named Aleena a look of newfound respect, going toe to toe with Wrex for several days was something even he didn't want to do if he could avoid it.

" **Indeed, though that makes her approach here all the more suspicious, such skills and experience would definitely have changed that particular farce..."** Naruto gestured behind him as he put Aleena down, towards the other three Turian's, the Batarian and what he thought was called a Drell.

"Well, if you want me to give you a beat down I'll more than happily oblige, I thought you humans knew how to treat a lady..." The moment Aleena's eyes left Wrex the teasing warmth in them vanished as she surrounded herself in the now familiar blue glow of biotic power whilst gingerly touching where he had grabbed her throat.

"Aleena..." There was an authority to Wrex's tone as he stepped between them, and seeing that the Krogan was trying to diffuse things Naruto decided to make sure all of their new guests were unconscious, the sound of a throw slamming into a barrier a moment later making it clear that Aleena was going to be a while calming down.

"We haven't finished you bastard, just because you have Wrex protecting you..." Naruto would have gotten annoyed if it weren't for the fact that Wrex started laughing a moment later, the Krogan grabbing Aleena firmly by the arm and leading them away from the 'fight scene'.

Making sure that all of the bounty hunters were still breathing, Naruto snorted at the memories of their assault, of which he had been warned by his information broker clone well in time. They hadn't even tried to be subtle, kicking in the doors like it was some kind of bad action movie, before storming in as one giant group without any thought for cohesion or covering fire positions.

Such was the ruckus they made that they didn't even notice him drop down from the specially constructed rafters and knock out the first Turian, spiriting his body away in a sealless replacement jutsu before returning to stalk his prey. It was as he took down the next two that they noticed him, though the fact that he slammed one of them _through_ a support beam was kind of a give away. Whilst they hadn't worked well as a group before, they truly shattered now as he dodged the wild bursts of fire in his direction and slipped out of the light of the shoulder torches once more.

The Salarian started shouting a mixture of random statements mixed with obvious attempts at orders, whilst the rest split off and ignored his attempts at instructions entirely in place of doing their own thing.

"You what!" Wrex's bark caused him to return his attention to his crew mate and his ex-colleague, Wrex looking far more furious than Naruto had ever seen him as Aleena looked down in what must be the universal expression of shame.

The two continued to talk in hushed tones for several seconds more, Naruto content to wait until they were finished before finding out what the Asari could have said to piss off the normally grumpy but emotionally steadfast Warlord, though given the glances Wrex occasionally threw his way it was definitely going to end up involving him sooner rather than later...

[]{}#%^*+=

_*Roughly the same time, Normandy main deck*_

Ducking round a patrolling marine with practiced ease, her eyes sliding right over Kasumi's cloaked body in a manner that would usually make her shiver in excitement, but as the female marine finally moved to enter the medbay she could only resist the urge to audibly sigh in relief instead. The almost static guard systems aboard the Normandy meant that it had taken the movement of the strange group of non-alliance members and almost an hour of hide and seek to get to this point, and she had still only completed one of her objectives.

"This is Sword 2, main deck is clear." The marine clearly was enjoying the rather dull schedule as much as Kasumi was, but as the marine returned to the door and headed out of the room, Kasumi had to admit that the skeleton crew on the ship right now helped in one aspect.

Deactivating her cloaking mechanism and hooking up to a wall socket to recharge, Kasumi could be somewhat assured that no-one would be coming in here again any time soon. The only concern would be if either of the registered medical personnel returned before she found what she needed, which was why she had one of the street kids watching the entrance to the Normandy's hangar, and she would be alerted if anyone came back.

Heading over to the false wall segment that was common on Alliance ships, Kasumi started feeling it's surface for the hidden switch that would open it up and allow her access to the medical records that would hopefully be hidden inside.

Unnoticed by the somewhat distracted thief, one of the books lying on the table next to one of the treatment beds vanished in a small burst of scentless smoke, dissipating rapidly as Kasumi found the switch with a small smirk as the wall shifted forward and to the right...

!"£$%^&*()

"Aleena, wait here..." Wrex was clearly disgruntled with his old 'partner', as the previously fiery Asari did as he ordered without even raising a manicured eyebrow, which meant that whatever he needed to talk to Naruto about was serious indeed.

"I need a favour..." Naruto did his best to control his facial expression as Wrex came out with the sentence he never thought he would hear from the miserly Warlord, only to belatedly remember that he was still henged as Skull so his face wasn't visible anyway.

' _ **Oh, this is going to be good, hopefully it involves you letting me out to play for a bit. Given you were stupid enough to tell your little Spectre woman about our little scheme, I imagine it will be the only time in the next few months when you aren't going to be on a very short leash...'**_ Kyuubi hadn't been at all happy with Naruto's most recent set of revelations to Jane, primarily around his set up with Skull and the other clones aboard the Citadel, though thankfully she hadn't passed the information onto Wrex when she had sent the Krogan to 'accompany' him.

" **As long as it doesn't get Commander Shepard anymore pissed with me than she already is..."** Jane was currently investigating several jobs that had been passed onto her either personally or through his slowly growing network, the fact that she was doing it without him and sending someone to keep an eye on him was telling about how well selling the information on the gang attacks had gone over.

"No promises, but given it will get you me as your Krant and Aleena's skills against Saren, then unless we end up blowing up the Citadel it should only help." Naruto was now more concerned than ever, both by the promises Wrex made and the fact he hadn't made a joke about his and Jane's relationship, something the Krogan was only outdone on by the Kyuubi.

" **Out with it Wrex, you're starting to scare me..."** Naruto decided to save both him and Wrex some time and cut to the chase, something that seemed to make things a little easier as Wrex steeled himself before speaking.

"Aleena and I, well after that Turian I told you about where we split the body and the bounties on, we may have had something of a raucous celebration. This was a century ago, and with the amount of ryncol I had... The point is we slept together, and whilst I thought nothing of it at the time, it turns out that Aleena was slower than usual on that space station for a reason..." Wheels were slowly turning in Naruto's head as he looked from Wrex to Aleena, whose expression had altered into one of cautiously hopeful.

" **You have a kid? Let me guess, someone is holding her hostage and that's why Ms cheerful is here?"** Wrex nodded, but before he could continue any further Naruto's head spiked with pain as he received a set of memories from a clone he had only created because he was being paranoid when he first boarded the Normandy, and his paranoia couldn't be paying off at a worse time.

" **Someone's infiltrated the Normandy, can this..."** His question died in his throat as he saw Aleena's face drop to that of despair, answering his query and making up his mind at the same time.

" **Never mind, Wrex, I want the details ready as we are going to make this fast."** Seeing Wrex move towards Aleena, obviously to get the information he requested, Naruto reached for his comm piece.

" **Joker, alert security teams and put the Normandy on high alert, we have an intruder in the med-bay. Notify the commander, Wrex and I will be going dark but you will have continued shadow support, Naruto out."** Given she had made it onto the ship without anyone noticing, Naruto wasn't sure if the security team would be able to stop her without an actual fight, something to be avoided given the potential collateral damage that could be unleashed aboard their ship.

Better to spook the intruder and let her escape with his clones trailing her than have a firefight on the Normandy, then he could deal with them as soon as he did a bit of family reunification. Wonder whether Wrex's Asari daughter is anything like her dad in temperament? With Aleena's volatility though, Wrex's personality may actually have been the better piece to be inherited...

[]{}#%^*+=

Kasumi's didn't know how she tipped them off, perhaps some sort of silent alarm on the records stash she hadn't noticed, but what mattered was that alarms were going off and armed guards had stormed the med-bay less than two minutes later. Thankfully they didn't seem to know she could turn invisible, as they moved right past her and into the back room area, allowing her to slip out of the med-bay unhindered, medical details of her target stored safely in her backpack as she tried to work out how she could escape with the only way out of the ship being the docking station that was now definitely guarded.

"No sign of the intruder, though someone has been in here recently, meaning we either just missed them or they have stealth tech. I'll message Joker, the rest of you fan out and guard the maintenance hatches." The one talking was obviously senior, and had some experience given how quickly he assessed the situation, though given he was about to give away her only advantage dampened her appreciation of his skills.

"Joker, this is Lieutenant Alenko..." Even as the three other men with the newly named Alenko started moving away from him and into other areas of the deck, Kasumi thanked whatever god that was watching over her as the Lieutenant unknowingly gave her an escape route, including a guide to show her the way.

Picking the smallest of the moving guards, Kasumi followed her towards the room on the far side of deck to the med-bay, the hatch clearly visible in the wall by what could only be the door to Captain Shepard's personal quarters. Given the exposed nature of the access point Kasumi was not exactly comfortable with what she needed to do next, but the time she would take finding where one of the other guards had gone would leave her at risk of the rest of the Spectre's team returning before she could make an effective get away.

Moving behind the marine in her way, Kasumi moved behind the marine and then deactivated her cloaking device, in order to activate the holo-decoy program she had created and stored in her omni-tool. Thankfully the marine didn't notice her during the 15 seconds it took to jack into the Normandy's systems and take control of the projection systems on the command deck, Kasumi placing her decoy away from the stairs and towards the airlock in order to drag people even further away from her intended escape route.

"Intruder spotted headed towards the airlock!" The shout from what she assumed was one of the bridge operators had its intended effect, the marine moving away from the hatch and towards the stairs just as she had planned, with such a light crew there were not enough marines around to guard the exits and pursue her.

"Everyone hold positions, it's a distraction!" The call from this Lt Alenko, over the ship wide communications system came too late, Kasumi having already opened the hatch and jumped inside by the time the marine turned back around.

Now she just hoped that this maintenance hatch led to the outside of the ship, because from there it would be easy enough to lose her pursuers. Still, it had been a lot more difficult than it should have been, which meant that the Normandy had been better prepared for an infiltration that she or Miranda had realised or that she was getting slow.

Whatever the case, Kasumi could only hope that they hadn't got a good look at her before she got out of here, she had enough people after her head as it was...

!"£$%^&*()

"Where are the rest of them Aleena? And where's the target..." It turned out that the Volus that Wrex had been guarding wasn't the only one who had bones to pick with Aleena over the secrets she held, a Salarian crime family on the Citadel amongst others had pursued her once they realised she was still alive after the space station incident.

"The body is nearby with a 'friend', but I want to see my daughter before I bring it in, as I was promised..." Aleena's anger was palpable even to Naruto, currently acting as a corpse under Wrex's supervision, using his somewhat limited chakra sensing to try and keep track of what was physically going on rather than just relying on the bug currently placed on Aleena's armour.

"You are in no position to order us around crone, as much fun as the boss has ordering you around he won't shed any tears if you were to 'try something', so get the body before we decide you need another lesson." The voice of a younger Asari amongst the group of guards, uttering the word crone with the vehemence of someone who understood how much of an insult the word was in Asari culture, very nearly pushed Aleena over the edge into unleashing her biotics.

"If I were to try something outcast, injured or not it would take far more than you four to take me down. Wrex, bring the crate, we better go see Falarin before I really lose my temper..." Naruto relaxed a little as Wrex started handling the crate handler to bring the crate towards Aleena, for a moment he was worried that Aleena was going to forget the plan and start blasting.

"Bitch, hopefully the boss decides today is the day we can finally get rid of you... Krash, open the door and let the boss know his toy is here." That was part 1 of the plan completed at least, whilst Naruto could have infiltrated the place by himself he didn't want to risk getting caught out by himself before finding his target, so the plan they were currently going with was a little more risky, but should have a better chance of saving Wrex's daughter.

Now they just had to hope that this Falarin was the usual overconfident type within his own base and didn't have anyone scan the crate before they found out where the target was being held, though they did have an explanation if someone did realise he was alive, the longer it took for that to happen the better...

[]{}#%^*+=

"You're sure you weren't followed?" Miranda would be the first to admit that some called her overly paranoid, but there was just something that was making the skin on her lower back crawl, and it wasn't the cheeky smirk that Kasumi sported as they eyed each other inside the crowded high class restaurant that had been agreed as the rendezvous point.

"Of course, I got out of the hangar still cloaked and then lost myself in the crowds for half an hour just to make sure, couple of pickpockets but I shook them off easily enough. What do you take me for Miranda-chan?" Miranda barely managed to bite back her comment about what she really thought of Ms Goto's overconfidence, mainly because in any other situation she was right, the normal crew would have no idea who they were even looking for, let alone what she actually looked like without her usual hood.

But the normal crew wasn't what she was worried about, and the sooner she got the data and left the Citadel the safer she would feel. They had finished their starters and were just on their main course, which meant that leaving quickly after paying the tab wouldn't look to suspicious for them. She was about to bring up finishing their business, something that she was sure would be better for both of them, when a waiter approached the table with a bottle of wine.

"Excuse me, but I have been asked to send this with compliments of that table over there." Miranda scowled slightly but reigned in her reaction even as she followed the waiter's gesture across the restaurant, no matter where you were or what you were doing there were men who thought that throwing gifts...

Miranda stopped cold as the sight of a fully armoured and armed Jane Shepard stared coldly across the restaurant at her, accompanied by a Turian and another human that she recognised from her research as Garrus Varakin and Kaidan Alenko from the Spectres strike team. How had they found them so quickly? Was this why her instincts had been screaming at her that something had gone wrong.

"Huh, I expected you to react slightly more to Jane-chan than that, I mean even I think she's scary and I am on her team..." The change in tone from the waiter made Miranda look up at him sharply, paying attention to the man's face for the first time even as Kasumi went for one of her machine pistols.

"I wouldn't do that Thief-san." Naruto, because the grin that appeared on the waiter's face as one of his hand shot forward and gripped Kasumi's hand in a grip that made the woman grimace as she tried to shift her hand.

Now, in a different setting, in her Cerberus armour and armed with more than a light pistol, Miranda might have tried something, but from the videos she had seen this Naruto was probably as dangerous in close quarters as a Krogan. More so in fact she realised with a sinking sensation, as this might not even be the real thing that was talking to them, merely a clone ready for them to try and take him out for his boss to unleash hell upon them both.

"Kasumi, stand down, even if we beat him and the Spectre I have no doubt the rest of his team are nearby." Best if she seemed the reasonable one here, especially as the way they had been called out indicated that the Spectre seemed willing to talk things out, otherwise they would both have ended up with sniper rounds to the back of the head on departure.

"I'm glad to see that you aren't just a pretty face, though Wrex will be disappointed he has had to put off a proper family reunion without getting to tear a few heads off. I will insist that both of you have your weapons on the table before I call Jane-chan over here, and then we can have a _chat_ about what to do with the fact you stole Council level information and compromised a Spectre's vessel..." Miranda did her best to keep her face neutral as she slowly and carefully unhooked her pistol from her belt and put it on the table whilst holding the barrel, though it was clear Kasumi hadn't realised quite how sensitive the information had been judging by the paling of her cheeks.

Whilst it wasn't official, the dealing of Council level secrets was carried out by Spectres, and though they weren't told directly, very rarely were there any survivors that had the chance to repent their losses. Even Miranda was caught slightly off guard by the revelation, she had assumed that the information related to Naruto was at best an Alliance secret that the Council had been brought in on, and the Alliance tended to do things far more by the book.

"All clear Commander, I hope you both enjoy your drink ladies..." As Shepard stood and started making her way over to them, Miranda noticed that she had her pistol drawn the entire time, nestled underneath the table and pointed unfalteringly in their direction, her gaze making Miranda wish they had actually managed to uncork the wine bottle before Naruto had unveiled how deep in the shit they were.

If she was going to die, a last drink would have been at least a slightly mollifying gesture...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Not the violent confrontation between Miranda/Kasumi and the others that quite a few reviewers indicated they wanted, but that is primarily because such a confrontation would be ridiculously one sided even with Kasumi's invisibility and Miranda's biotics. Between Naruto, Wrex and Jane Miranda would have been overwhelmed in short order and Naruto could play cat and mouse Kasumi with his clones to his heart's content.
> 
> In addition, Miranda is under standing instructions from the Illusive man to get Naruto into favourable contact with Cerberus, and being caught trying to steal his medical records is bad enough without starting a firefight to try and escape. So, now all she needs to do is work out a way to convince an angry Jane Shepard that she isn't working for Saren or some other criminal entity and that she was just trying to help...
> 
> Good luck with that.
> 
> Did people like my 'Naruto as Batman' scene? I think that it fits the persona I am building for 'Skull' quite nicely, as well as setting up a confrontation between the Shadow Broker's agents and Naruto as he continues to improve his network on the Citadel, which will start to include more than just his clones as the story continues.
> 
> Wrex and Aleena. I will be honest, this idea came out of no-where, and sorry for leaving it somewhat unfinished. But, in my defence, pretty much anything I write will not be as good as whatever people can imagine Wrex going Big Daddy on a bunch of Salarians will be. Aleena will become part of the crew, as well as the main romantic interest for Wrex going forward (Eve will feature later, but I felt their relationship is more 'figureheads for the survival of their species' rather than an instant romantic relationship.')
> 
> As for Wrex's daughter, how much like Wrex should I have her act like? Either have it that genes breed true, or that she has had a lot of extranet time to research her father... What do people think? Also, naming suggestions?
> 
> This has been a huge chapter that got away from me more than once, so if you see any bits where I haven't quite polished it to my usual standard let me know, and I will see what I can do.
> 
> Defias Out!


	16. Cafe Chats and Chilling Confrontations

"Naruto has somehow convinced me that you are more useful to us alive and talking, though if it weren't for the fact that he holds significant sway within my team with his recent actions and they agreed with him, I would currently be examining your corpses in C-Sec's morgue." Kasumi knew she should have listened to her instincts when she had first heard about the job from Miranda, Jane Shepard now sat across from the pair of them and delivering her view on their actions in the cold detached manner that made it clear that they were both living on borrowed time.

"Not that I am complaining about the whole not killing us thing, thank you for that, but there is no reason we cannot be civil about this. Wine?" Kasumi was weighing up whether or not throwing Miranda under the bus here would help her position or not, the Cerberus woman remarkably composed as she poured herself a glass of the red wine the subject of their espionage had brought them.

"I don't think you are taking this seriously enough, though perhaps you don't understand how serious your situation is..." Commander Shepard, who Kasumi was planning on referring to as politely as possible going forward, was interrupted by the arrival of this Naruto with two bowls of what looked to be some kind of ramen dish.

"She is taking this very seriously Shepard-taichou, you should have seen how her body language changed when I pointed you out, this is obviously her attempt to remain in control of the situation. Besides, I thought we agreed we would only kill one of them as a statement? So why not work on the one who is clearly in the dark about how much trouble their thieving has landed them in." The warm smile on the boy's face was a front, that was all Kasumi could think as Shepard's eyes shot across to her own with an intensity that made her flinch slightly.

"And here I thought you would be the good cop Mr Uzumaki, apologies but with the Alliance records about your military rank being so clearly forged I don't know what rank I should be referring to you as, though the alterations we have made have put into the system put you at the rank of Lieutenant." Miranda's comment made Kasumi throw a mild betrayed glance in her employer's direction, Miranda had mentioned nothing about Naruto's false records in her briefing, it was only something Kasumi had dug up on her own during her preparations.

"Given he is the only one keeping you alive at this point I would definitely say that puts him in the good cop part of this interrogation, though with how you have obviously been digging into his secrets..." Commander Shepard paused as Naruto gave Miranda a thoughtful frown.

"You are the one that has been shoring up my history, Wrex mentioned that someone had been changing things other than him." Naruto held up his hand as Miranda smiled in her usual confident manner, his smile changing to a very serious expression, his gesture stopping her before she could interrupt him.

"If you think that such information helps your case here it doesn't, the fact you were making such modifications means that you know exactly what you were getting your friend here to steal from us, and that means that you are a very clear security risk that needs dealing with." For the first time in the 'conversation' Kasumi saw Miranda lose control for a moment, a slight widening of her eyes at Naruto's blunt dismissal of her 'help' a reaction that would have given Kasumi a giggling fit less than an hour ago, but now all it meant was that the pit forming in her stomach grew that much bigger.

It was clear to Kasumi that she had a choice, though as Shepard's face morphed into a vicious smirk she was uncertain about what the results of her choice would lead to. Whilst giving herself up at this stage to the Spectre's tender mercies might save her from being killed now, on the other hand being handed over to Alliance would merely move her death sentence back by days or weeks at best, her legend was too well known in the underworld for her former targets not to take a chance when it presented itself.

At the same time, Miranda was very clearly losing this argument/interrogation, and the fact she hadn't revealed her Cerberus background yet made it clear that she thought it would make things worse, not better in this situation. There was no way...

"And what would you say if I said that this entire exercise had been planned in order to highlight to you the gaps in your security systems?" The question was a little too haughty, even by Miranda's standards, which was why Kasumi wasn't surprised when Commander Shepard dismissed Miranda's attempt to legitimise their venture with a wave of her hand.

"If there were holes in the Normandy's security systems, then we wouldn't be having this conversation..." Kasumi though was focussed on Naruto's expression, the young man seemingly appraising Miranda for a few seconds before leaning across and whispering something into Shepard's ear, which caused her to scowl before she glanced across at him questioningly.

"Let's be honest Shepard-taichou, if it weren't for MY security systems on the ship, we wouldn't be having this conversation and they would be in the wind regardless of their end intentions. We can't trust that I have found every flaw in the systems aboard the ship, and given the information that pretty-chan has implied she is aware of we can't just get rid of her, I would bet that she isn't the only one with that information." Miranda flushed angrily at the nickname Naruto gave her and Kasumi logged it mentally if she managed to get out of this situation, it seemed the young man in front of her was very skilled at picking away at people's weak points even if he had only met the pair of them for 20 or so minutes.

Then her mind caught up with the rest of what he had said and she started to panic, given his earlier words about making an example out of one of them, then if Miranda was indispensable due to her knowledge and connections...

"Anything to add hood-chan? Even with the outfit your emotions are remarkably easy to read..." Kasumi's eyes widened as Naruto's smiling face turned to hers, the expression similar to the phrase she had heard in her childhood of 'the cat and the cream' as he identified her emotional weakness with terrifying ease.

She wasn't proud to admit that one of the reasons she had developed her flirty and upfront manner to disguise the secret that he had so casually revealed, as well as the hood that she used to hide her upper face everywhere but in her most secure hideaways. Even Keiji had taken over a year of working with her to earn her trust enough for her to remove the hood in front of him, though thankfully he had talked her into removing the face mask she had originally worn before she had started working with him.

"I'm very good at what I do, be it hacking, infiltrating an area or retrieving certain items Naruto-sama, and did I mention that I am on the market for jobs? My rate is extremely reasonable, I don't mind working long hours and that red and yellow are my favourite colours?" Probably a little too deferential for the situation, but as long as it got her out of being killed or handed over to the Council she wasn't that prideful.

Naruto cast a long look at Commander Shepard's hair when the Spectre looked slightly confused about her comments on colours, the man openly chuckling when it seemed to finally twig what Kasumi had been referencing in Commander Shepard's head, the Spectre surprisingly glaring at Naruto instead of her.

"She has your terrible sense of humour, adds those little bits onto the ends of people's names and has now got the same history of making my security teams look bad. Are you sure that you aren't 'related'?" There was an extra inflection upon the final word wasn't something that Kasumi understood the importance of, but it seemed to be understood by the other three sat at the table, Naruto laughing once more but this time with a serious look in his eyes.

"Not one of mine, though if she is offering to work for us then I wouldn't mind taking her up on the offer, assuming of course that she plans on giving us back the files she 'retrieved'. I can't be everywhere at once after all and she certainly has enough skills to keep away from the usual shadows." The last sentence surprisingly brought a small smile to Miranda's face, something she flattened into her usual neutral expression the moment she realised it was there, but it seemed to be what Naruto was waiting on as he gestured to her victoriously.

"So you do know... but Hood-chan doesn't, how very callous of you Pretty-chan. Shepard-taichou, Pretty-chan seems to be the only one we need to worry about, though I think we can make use of Hood-chan's offer in tracking down a few things with Saren. Neither of them seem to have lied, but if we get them back to the ship then Ino-chan will be able to confirm that, and if there is anything else they are hiding from us." It wasn't an offer, but it was better than being handed over to C-Sec or 'dealt with' in a more abrupt manner, and given the fact that Miranda had all of her Cerberus secrets to hide then hopefully the focus would be on her instead of herself...

!"£$%^&*()+_

"It seems Pretty-chan wasn't by herself after all, either that or we aren't the only one interested in what she managed to get from the ship." The comment from Naruto made Jane groan internally, even as her 6th sense went from a mild discomforting sensation to screaming at her, Naruto stepping in front of their group as a dozen armed and fully armoured human men and women subtly blocked the passage they were using to return to the main area of the Presidium.

"Similar number behind us, and the area means there are probably some providing overwatch from above as well." Garrus' comment meant that this ambush had been thought out particularly well, and Jane was frustrated enough with how the day was going that she was tempted to go straight to the violent solution to let off some steam, even if they were outnumbered and out positioned.

"Commander Shepard, apologies for the delay in your no doubt important journey, but our boss just wishes for a moment of your time..." The voice came from the one nearest to them, dressed in blood red armour and with a sword of all things strapped to his back.

He spoke with the sort of modulated tone that gave away nothing regarding his emotions, though he held himself in a haughty manner that made her anger flare.

"And why shouldn't I just cut you down where you stand? I assume she is one of yours?" Jane gestured over her shoulder to where she had left Wrex looking after the woman that Naruto had taken to calling 'pretty-chan'.

"Because Spectre, this is a meeting that you have wanted for years, even if your version would have me here in person rather than as a holo-projection..." The appearance of a projection had Naruto raise his weapons before Jane stepped up and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

The hand was there as much to prevent her own emotions boiling over as it was anything else, as there was only one human with this kind of power and ability that she wanted to meet, and by 'meet' she meant 'put into the ground with her own hands'.

"Cerberus..." It was lucky that Naruto had unintentionally been forcing her to contain her instinctive reactions with his secrets and antics, otherwise she would have started the fight right there regardless of the odds instead of growling out the word as if it were granite in her mouth.

"I have followed your rise closely Commander, your successes even before Eden Prime were most impressive, though it is what you discovered there that has lead to this encounter as I know you take a dim view of my organisation..." Memories of her old N7 barracks, with bodies of her teammates where they were cut down in the carnage following the attempted arrest of _the traitor_ came to her as clearly as they did in her nightmares.

"Ano, I have no idea who you are Ji-san, but I can tell you that Jane-taichou is about three seconds from trying to blow your head off. Perhaps you should tell us what you are offering in this exchange before she really loses her temper and gets everyone here killed." Naruto was still wary of her after her earlier... Remonstration of his actions of the Citadel, but he was also somehow being the mature one despite her being almost a decade older than him, which worked remarkably well at cooling her temper.

"You have quite the way of breaking the tension Mr Uzumaki, though having seen you go to town on those idiots on the Council I am not overly surprised. The reason that I have not moved onto my offer yet, is because Commander Shepard will not accept the deal as things stand due to past interactions she has had with our organisation, so we must discuss that before we can hope to make any further headway." The calm manner in which the Illusive man was giving her the opportunity to let loose emotions she had long since buried merely made the situation all the more infuriating, but at the same time it helped her remain somewhat focussed as she spoke about something she had kept buried for a long time.

"And you expect us to have a quick conversation about how one of you Cerberus bastards slaughtered my unit and that will make everything okay again? You think that having a literal gun to my head and threatening my team is somehow going to make me forgive what you bastards have done to me?" Now that she was stood here, her self styled nemesis 'stood' before her, Jane couldn't help but feel a little cheated at his solemn expression even as his minions flinched at her outburst.

"And yet, despite the fact that Agent Pembrook was a member of that particular N7 group for almost 5 years, there was no evidence that he had done or acted in any way that would have hindered the Alliance or put you or your team in danger. Does it not strike you as odd that despite the fact that there was no evidence even after the... regrettable incident where the Alliance tried to capture him, the Council knew exactly who the traitor in your group was and made the Alliance act so hurriedly in their attempt to subdue him?" If it weren't for having dealt with the Council and Naruto's insinuations about them supporting Saren's attempts to destabilise the Alliance, Jane wouldn't even have given it a second thought before dismissing the Illusive man's obvious attempt to make her second guess what had gone on in her past.

But now, forcing herself to relive memories she had tried so hard to bury, she could already see what the Illusive man was driving at, Pembrook taking her under his wing despite his gruff and uncompromising exterior, pushing her to improve her skills further when the other members of Alliance command would have had her doing publicity stunts and 'networking.'

"It doesn't matter what he was there to do or not do, he still killed two of my team and left two others crippled along with a dozen marines and MPs. Or does that not matter to you as you move your minions around like chess pieces, awaiting the day where you discard them and those they slaughter in your name for 'the greater good'?" That provoked a reaction, not just from the Illusive man but the other members of Cerberus as they raised their weapons angrily, the sword armed man drawing his blade as Naruto summoned his spear defensively.

"Jane-Taichou, as much as I want to teach the Samurai-wannabe a few things, can you and the nice Ji-san calm down a bit? Given that everyone bar hood-chan is already in the know, I wouldn't have to hold back for once, but that will get messy and I can't promise there won't be casualties." It was a threat to the Illusive man, a plea for her to calm down, and a way of winding up whoever the head operative was with the sword.

"I assume you already have your clones en-route to counter-ambush us? Or are you implying there are other powers that you have that I am unaware of?" The Illusive man broke off from his thoughtful frown to look inquisitively in Naruto's direction, shaking his head and turning back to Jane a moment later.

"I will admit that I don't want to find out given what I have seen and heard of what you can do to the Geth Mr Uzumaki, but you are right and I will skip straight to the meat of this little impasse, lest our tempers fray any further. I have information to trade for my agent's release, information both on Saren's activities and pertinent personal information that some members of your crew will find interesting. As a sign of goodwill, as well as to show the general level of information I am talking about, I am forwarding one of these personal pieces of information to you now."

The urge to say no was eating at her even as her omni-tool lit up a moment later to show a new message with a dozen documents attached to it. She had barely read the first couple of lines before her eyes shot up to glare at the Illusive man with every ounce of hate she could muster.

"If this is a trick..." But even if was she couldn't take the chance, the anger in her stomach freezing over into cold, hard hatred even as the Illusive man shook his head.

"Only confirmed a week ago and I managed to stifle the information for now, the ward address is listed as well as the affiliations of those she was rescued from. Even if you hadn't been... Amicable at this meeting, I would have ensured that Mr Uzumaki's network 'found' that information before the end of the day." Given the fact that Naruto hadn't spoken up since his intervention to prevent a brawl breaking out, Jane assumed that either he couldn't tell or that he thought the Illusive man was being honest.

Either way, it was a deal with the devil. Either she refused good information for the sake of her personal grudges, and potentially get some of her team wounded or killed as well as making another powerful enemy to strike at her from the shadows, or she released what could be their biggest information opportunity on Cerberus in years and leave herself open to blackmail if the Illusive man threatened to let people know of the incident.

"I notice you are only bargaining for Pretty-chan, that's a little cold of you given Hood-chan has been quite the good contractor for you Ji-san. Either that or you allowing us to utilise her skills without trying to attach any strings from your end..." It was probably the most uncertain Naruto had ever sounded when spelling out his opponents attempted machinations, something that was the equivalent of the young ninja tipping his hat to the Illusive man's negotiating skills.

"Make of it what you will Mr Uzumaki, I wouldn't want to give things away to a future sparring partner after all, and you still have a lot to learn about the... more delicate matters of diplomacy." The unspoken invitation that the Illusive man would be contacting them in the future was enough to make up Jane's mind, the man was known to be one of the most powerful men in the galaxy after all.

If preventing Saren from wiping out humanity meant strangling her sense of outrage that came with her logical approach, then so be it...

!"£$%^&*()_+

They had made it to the Cerberus transport on the other side of the Citadel, a non-descript transport hauler that was perfect for the purposes of allowing people to move from one place to another, before Miranda finally built up the courage to speak her mind to him through the communicator 2 of his operatives were still transporting.

"You knew that they would catch me." The statement held the kind of furious undertone that the Illusive man had only heard Miranda use when referring to her father before now, so whilst he could have tried to be vague and deflecting about the incident that he had just managed to prevent from escalating, instead he decided to take what he was going to start terming 'The Uzumaki approach'.

"Uzumaki was an unknown with powers that he has probably not even started to reveal the extent of, even to his own team, so I prepared for the possibility that your overconfidence would lead to this situation. Would you have prefered it if I had left you to Commander Shepard's mercy when Goto invariably revealed your membership to Cerberus?" Miranda's glare lessened slightly at his rather obvious verbal slap on the wrist, her face showing that she was imagining what the rather hot-headed Spectre would have done to her in that circumstance.

"We will de-brief you properly when we return to base Theta-3, but despite your failure with the original mission objectives I am pleased with how things turned out." There had always been the risk that Shepard wasn't prepared to listen to him, in fact it was mostly due to Uzumaki's influence that she hadn't instigated that bloodbath, but with the data he had passed over to them and the releasing of Ms Goto into their service there was now something he hadn't considered when arranging the stand off.

"Do you think Commander Shepard will be prepared to accommodate future agreements between us Mr Uzumaki? Or do you think I need to show some more good will before she accepts that I am on her side?" His statement, seemingly to the room at large, had all of his operatives reaching for their weapons defensively before his waved hand made them go back to what they were doing before.

"I would ask how you knew I was here, but given how much you seem to know about me means that everything Udina and the Alliance know probably ends up getting to your ears shortly afterwards." He could tell that the Uzumaki's appearance startled more than one member of his team, the young ninja dropping down from the roof of his ship to stand in front of his projection with no sign of concern at the weapons being pointed at him.

"But back to your question Ji-san, the boss will make damn sure that she never falls for the trap of you being on 'our side'. No offence Ji-San, but I don't think even you know what side you and this Cerberus organisation are on..." The blunt points made the young man in front of him seem less politically adept than he actually was, which when combined with his rather rash and boisterous personality made him quite the interesting sparring partner, even if some of Naruto's lack of knowledge was clearly real rather than faked as he liked to pretend.

"Interesting, I don't think I have had someone accuse us of being Bismarckian before... It means constantly shifting and changing your allegiances in order to gain the best possible outcome..." The slight confusion had been barely noticeable in Naruto's face, but even if he was somewhat skilled at detecting falsehoods the Illusive man was decades ahead of him in terms of reading people still.

"Huh, not quite what I meant Ji-san but close enough. Still, given the ship's about to take off I need to get going, as much fun as you and Pretty-chan would be Shepard-taichou is pissed enough with me as it is." Kai looked like he wanted to stop Naruto, but with a mere shake of the head the Illusive man dismissed that possibility from the man's mind, one of the characteristics that made him such a good operative in the field.

"Before you do Uzumaki-san, I hope you will take this communicator back with you..." It was a little spontaneous as decisions he made went, but something about Naruto's words had lit something of a fire inside of him.

For all that people decried him and his organisation as terrorists and warmongers, no-one had ever accused them of lacking direction and reliability so succinctly before now, and even his own example of surmising the young man's accusation had made him consider the 20th century politician that he had referenced. Bismarck had been a great politician in leading , and an even better diplomat given how successfully he switched from one alliance to another at the drop of a hat, but eventually he had run into the brick wall that came with alienating so many potential allies for short term gains and was one of the contributory causes for the 2 greatest wars in Earth's history.

Judging by the calculating look on not only Naruto's face but Miranda's as well he suddenly felt a lot better about his sudden decision. If he played this right not only could he gain an inside path into contacting both Naruto and Commander Shepard once more, but he could make it seem like that had been his plan all along...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: We will leave it there for this chapter I think, primarily because this has been a giant pain in the ass to write. It's one of those moments in writing, where you have started to put more and more of your own elements into a fanfiction, only to hit a story-breaking snag as one of them massively affects another in a way you didn't anticipate.
> 
> Ino's inclusion was intended originally to help with the deciphering of the Prothean warning, even her limited mind walking abilities would far outstrip the Asari method in terms of usefulness in this case. Likewise, Cerberus' earlier inclusion was both to showcase how embedded they are in the Alliance circles of power but also to provide an in for Kasumi to get involved with Naruto earlier (NOT that way... maybe... :P).
> 
> However, if Miranda had made it back to the Normandy, then all of a sudden our intrepid heroes not only make a probably permanent enemy in Miranda for 'pillaging' her mind (As much as I like her when she lightens up a bit, vindictive is probably one of the top three words I have for her), but also destabilise Cerberus and potentially cause something of a 'secret' Alliance civil war at exactly the wrong time.
> 
> So, if the Illusive man's 'rescue' seems a bit Deus Ex, then I apologise. It was always intended to happen, both to show that he is a level above even Miranda and Jane in terms of strategically thinking ahead, as well as to provide a bit more character development for my Jane.
> 
> Meh, I don't think people will mind too much, as otherwise my story was dead in the water.
> 
> Did people like what I did at the end there? I don't want this to be a 'Cerberus are a-okay' all of a sudden, and I think this particular angle is one I haven't seen taken before.
> 
> Anyway, long A/N over with, hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Defias


	17. It's me and 'the other guy'

The people were a blur around Jane as she walked hastily down the long corridors of the Citadel's main medical district, only resisting the urge to break into a run to avoid attracting attention to herself. She had left her team back at the Normandy with only the briefest of orders to secure the ship hangar and start questioning the thief they had been left with by that accursed man, who even after everything he and his filth had done to her thought a few hollow words would allow him to become her ally.

It was probably not a good sign that none of them questioned where she was going, her face probably showed more of her turbulent emotional state than she intended, even Naruto hadn't tried to stop her going off by herself. That didn't mean he hadn't put a clone on watching her of course, given her standing order she would be more angry if he hadn't out of fear of upsetting her, but given the rather tense air she had left between them when he decided to stop lying to her it wasn't a sure thing.

Still, she had other things to worry about right now, working out how she felt about him and his recent actions would have to come later. Bringing up her omni-tool as she came to a stop, Jane took one last look at the address the Illusive man had headed the file transfer he had so graciously 'gifted' to her with, though the rather mercenary looking guards at the front entrance of the private clinic's address was a bit of a give-away.

The three of them were intimidating enough to a civilian, but Jane picked out several things that made it clear to her that these were little more than street thugs. Only one of them was remotely close to acting professionally, the aged Turian stood to one side of the door and doing her best to ignore the other two as they distracted themselves with a card game of some sort. If that wasn't enough, the way she kept shifting showed that her battle scarred predator III armour was definitely scavenged and hadn't been modified to fit her frame, fine for guard duty but not what you wanted in sustained combat.

Nothing she couldn't handle if she needed to then, and if they weren't prepared to back down she had some anger issues she was more than happy to work off on them before heading inside to... The thought came to a stop as she mentally steadied herself as the nightmares of her childhood threatened to surface once more...

_Looking up at her father as they walked through the woods towards town..._

_The warm feeling of her mother's hand pulling her back as she tried to pull her forwards through the crowds..._

_The screams and cries in the distance as they ran as fast as they could through the undergrowth..._

_Fire and ash, her mother screaming in the arms of the bad aliens as Jane grabbed at her father's shirt, tears streaming down her face to mix with the blood coating her hands..._

_The shark like grin of the towering Batarian as he reached down to grab her, blood of her father covering his hands, not noticing her little arms gripping the handle of the blade stuck in her father's stomach..._

_So much blood..._

Even after all these years, and reliving the nightmares more times than she could count both asleep and awake, Jane only just managed to repress her sub-conscious instinct to draw the blade at her hip defensively, the same blade that bore the blood of her father and her first kill in its sordid history. Several of the shrinks that she had been forced to go see had tried to get her to give up the blade, so that she could let the past rest and move on without her rather unique version of a 'coping mechanism'.

But she had made a promise, after waking up in the wasteland remnants she had called home and managed to stagger into Alliance held territory when they counter attacked, that she wouldn't rest until she found out what happened to her mother and put every last slaver involved in the attack into the ground. And now, thanks to the man she had in second place on her 'shit list', she could hopefully achieve half of that particular life goal.

Mind now steeled for what was to come, Jane moved forward once more, making no attempt at disguising her destination as she cut through the crowd that quickly parted around her. The Turian caught sight of her when she was about twenty yards away and said something rather brusquely to her companions, who were far too slow in reacting as she crossed the remaining distance between them.

"Move." Jane had no time for civility, and judging by the way the female Turian backed up a step with recognition on her face at least one of them recognised exactly who she was.

"Who do you think you are  _rognash_..." Though the translator didn't translate the final word of the Batarian's disgruntled riposte as he finished standing from where he had been playing a game with the human, Jane recognised it well enough as their shortened version of the word bitch, the full word literally translating as ' _a woman who is only worthy of breeding with slaves and Varren_ '.

Rather than respond as the Batarian went into a typical macho power play of drawing his pistol and gesturing it in her direction, Jane merely smiled wolfishly, seemed like she would get a chance to work out some aggression after all.

"Barrash, it's..." The Turian tried to speak up, probably to tell her comrades  _exactly_  who he was insulting, but by then the Batarian had pressed the muzzle of his pistol against her head and it was too late.

If she had introduced herself, they probably would have avoided this Jane thought to herself, as she brought up her hand to knock the gun away from her head in the same motion that she slammed her armoured fist into the Batarian's lightly armoured under arm. But sometimes there was a need to let loose, and remind some idiots that they are no-where near the top of the food chain, and given the way the Batarian crumpled like a rag doll that was very much the case.

"You..." Whatever the human was going to say was cut short as she spun full circle to give him a spinning roundhouse kick that lifted him straight off his feet and slamming into the door they were meant to be guarding.

Finishing her spin by slamming her knee into the Batarian's face as he tried to recover from her first attack, Jane was surprised to hear the clatter of a weapon hitting the floor off to her right, and as her gaze turned to the sound of the noise she found the Turian with hands in the air and assault rifle on the floor.

"They didn't pay me to take on a Spectre..." Though she was clearly nervous Jane was happy to see that the Turian had enough common sense to realise that she wasn't going to be able to win this fight.

"Good call." The Batarian was groaning un-comprehensively on the floor, whilst the human seemed to have been knocked out from her single strike, and though they were gathering a crowd it seemed enough people recognised her that they weren't calling C-Sec just yet.

' _Two guys in three blows, wait until I tell Naru... Damn it girl, eyes on the prize.'_ The fact she wanted to boast to the young ninja, even with everything that had happened recently, was not something she needed muddying her thoughts right now.

"Any more guards inside?" The question was one she wouldn't normally ask, but right now she didn't have a team to provide back up in case things went badly.

"None that I know of, it's a fairly small clinic, but other than these two ruffians I've never interacted with anyone inside, Barrash always insisted he dealt with our employer." Good enough for now, though it did now leave her with a bit of a quandary in case the Turian or one of the others did decide to call for back up whilst she was inside.

She had been frustrated with things, even before they had arrived back on the Citadel, the events on Eden Prime catapulting her into this mess of politics, ancient myths and genocidal robots far faster than she could emotionally deal with. Not that she would ever admit that out loud, the last thing she needed was her team starting to doubt, either her leadership or themselves.

"Damn it, pick your gun up and find something to restrain these two with. Then keep the crowd away, I have a call to make." To the Turian's credit she didn't so much as flinch at the rather brusque order, grabbing her assault rifle from the floor before moving into the little structure to the side of the door that must serve as a gatehouse.

Turning away and stepping towards the door, Jane brought up her omni tool display and scrolled through the features to find what was she was looking for, the comm piece in her ear making the 'click' noise of a call being initiated. As the ringing noise began, Jane started modifying the email from the Illusive man, leaving only the bare bones of the information and a single picture in the email she was preparing.

"Shepard, good to hear from you. I heard there was a break in on the Normandy, did you catch the perpetrator or do you want me to alert the Executor that we need to start a man-hunt? Don't tell me it was Naruto doing another  _test_!" Despite her aggravation at the way the day had gone, so much of her past and the insecurities that came with it being stirred together in a giant pot, Captain Anderson's voice brought a slight smile to her face.

The fact that such a manhunt would have cost every dreg of influence the man had on the Citadel didn't bother him for a moment, he would gladly sacrifice that to protect  _his_ people as he viewed the crew of the Normandy.

"No need, we caught the perpetrator, though I do have a favour to ask..." Now she just had to work out how to ask the man for support without making it sound like she didn't trust her own team...

[]{}#%^*+=

"I know it is a lot to take in Ino-chan..." Naruto trailed off as he sat awkwardly next to the Normandy med-bay bed that he had transferred Ino to via clone the moment he realised how far the scary Ji-san's reach potentially extended.

The fact that the Ji-san had known such about him and his abilities meant that the Alliance was compromised, not that such a fact particularly surprised him anymore. Jiraiya had been adamant that telling more than three people a secret, meant it wasn't a secret any longer. Given he already had a ' _soft'_ enemy in the Council, even if they didn't realise it, Naruto was glad he had kept so much of his history and powers to himself.

The fact that the news was out though meant that the details about Ino's injury, and who she was, wouldn't be far behind. And the number of people that Naruto felt he could trust with her safety were less than double digits if he was being generous, and after the disagreement he and Jane had generosity was not something in his vocabulary right now.

"Shika, he was always such a stubborn Baka..." Ino was taking the news of Shikamaru's death better than someone would normally expect, misty eyed but remarkably controlled, whitened knuckles around rippled sheets the only physical sign of her grief.

But after all they had been through on their original world, the friends they had lost and the torment of losing their lives and world, Naruto wouldn't really call the two of them emotionally stable members of society.

"Ino-chan, I'm so sorry..." Just because she was deadened to the loss didn't make giving the news any easier for him, and just like he had been beating himself up since they had defeated the Thorian, Ino would take a long time to come to terms with the fact that Shikamaru had sacrificed himself for her.

"Hahaha..." The sound of laughter from Ino, as halting as it was given her exhaustion from the surgery, was not what Naruto expected from her following his apology.

Looking up from where he had been awkwardly staring at his clenched crossed hands, Naruto saw Ino wiping a tear that had managed to escape down her cheek, looking at him with a smile that was much more expressive than her childhood smirk.

"Obviously he is still not as big a baka as you Naruto, you haven't changed at all... What are you apologising for this time? Joining a dangerous mission against someone who wants to summon what could well be the robots that destroyed so that you could look for us? The fact that you managed to find me but couldn't save Shika despite the fact he made his decision literally thousands of years ago? Or are you going to try and claim that you are somehow responsible for my latest injury despite being on the other side of  _a galaxy_  when it would have happened?"

"So he did that before he woke up here? Good to know the old man hasn't gotten soft on us just due to his old age..." Wrex's voice from behind him made Naruto jump, he had been so focussed on Ino he had somehow missed the door opening, the obvious surprise making Ino's smile widen that little bit more as he spun round to find the wizened Krogan stood at the door with a beaming figure stood next to him.

"Yeah, big brother was all torn up over the fact that I got a small cut whilst he and Dad rescued me and Mum! Not that I care, it gives me a cool scar to show off when I become a mercenary like them!" The young Asari girl was about 4 inches shorter than Naruto was, her skin a dark purple colour apart from a deep red gash on her left cheek, a mass effect round grazing it during her rescue mission.

"Naruto..." Ino's muttered calling of his name was tinged with uncertainty, which reminded Naruto that she still had no idea about the various alien races that populated the Galaxy, something that she was taking quite well given the circumstances.

"Sorry Ino-chan, I suppose we should do some introductions and background on these guys and what else you can expect. The giant lizard is Wrex and he is a Krogan, think warmongering close combat machines that aren't much for talking things out and that is pretty much what I've found thus far..." Wrex growled at the description but gave the Krogan attempt at a friendly wave to Ino, but before Naruto could continue there was suddenly a purple body between him and Ino, literally vibrating in excitement as she unleashed a torrent of words.

"Hi, I'm Nor'alee Verdejs, but you can call me Nora as I know humans struggle with the pronunciation at times, though big brother tells me you and him aren't humans at all. Does that mean you are an awesome space ninja like he is? He says I'm not to speak about it, but I think we are okay aboard this ship right?" Given the 'squirrel in the path of a raiton jutsu' look that Ino was adorning right now, Naruto decided to be gracious and pulled the little purple ball of energy away from her slightly, before chuckling as Nora turned to him with a pout she had obviously spent far too long practicing.

"Sorry about that Ino, Nora still needs to learn how to act around people properly, though it is nice to see she isn't as grumpy as her dad is all the time..." Nora's pout turned into a giggle as Wrex huffed from behind him, but his words had little calming effect on Ino from the looks of it, the girl running through four familiar handsigns before pointing her linked fingers at Naruto insistently as they glowed bright blue with chakra.

" _ **Very brave, for a ningen, she does remember exactly WHOSE head she's creating a conduit to? All I'd need to do was flare my chakra just a little bit..."**_  Kyuubi was in a confrontational mood, he had been since they had encountered the scary Ji-san and Naruto had revealed his 'side' business to Jane, something the kitsune had definitely not agreed with before or after the reveal.

" _You do realise I can hear you Kyuubi-san? Of course you do, not important right now..."_ The feeling of having someone effectively inside his head wasn't exactly new to Naruto, both from his experience with the Kyuubi as well as the prolific use the jutsu had seen during the guerrilla action after the invasion, but as Nora clapped her hands together excitedly he knew it was going to complicate the next few minutes.

"Wow, did big sis just do a spell or something? Nothing seems to have happened... Perhaps it's a summoning spell of some type and takes a while to kick in... Is it for summoning sloths!?" As Nora started darting round the room, no doubt looking for the arrival of these mysterious sloths, Naruto noticed Ino still hadn't calmed down despite establishing the link with him.

' _Everything okay Ino-chan? I know Nora's a bit much at first with all the questions, but she doesn't expect you to actually answer most of them..."_ Or any of them really, given the rather hostile environment she had grown up in, Nora was worryingly used to people ignoring her unless they had to listen...

Ino's face changed for the first time since she had spotted Wrex and Nora at the door, the girl looking at him as if he was crazy before a sudden look of realisation crossed over her face and she threw a frustrated glare in his direction.

' _You don't even realise that, unlike you, I can't understand a word they are saying? And here I thought Sakura and I beat the baka out of you...'_  The silence inside Naruto's head was deafening, for all of three seconds until the awkwardness was broken by the booming laugh of his tenant.

" _ **Hahahaha, you haven't given her a translator brat! That is so embarrassing for you!"**_ With his rapidly returning brain function, Naruto could  _feel_ the weight of the spare translator he had gotten from Nirali in the thigh pouch of his armour suit, he had just been so relieved to talk with someone from his home world that it had slipped his mind as they started talking.

"Are you okay big brother? Your face has gone all red all of a sudden, did I say something wrong?" Nora looked absolutely distraught at the idea she had done something wrong, the emotional distress enough to drag Naruto from his embarrassment, leaning down to pat her on the head in what he hoped was encouraging manner.

"It's not you Nora, I just forgot something quite important when introducing you. Can you please give us a minute and then come back? I'm sure Ino will be much happier to see you then." Casting a meaningful look at Wrex, Naruto pushed Nora gently back towards her father, the girl looking like she was about to protest before surprisingly being able to read the tone of the room.

Without another word Wrex and Nora left the room leaving the two of them alone once more, Kyuubi's laughter still ringing in Naruto's mind as he turned back towards Ino with an apologetic look, Ino cancelling the jutsu now they were alone.

"Sorry Ino, I was just so excited to see and speak to you again I completely forgot about it, I have one of these translator things here that I meant to give you..." Reaching for the translator piece, Naruto heard Ino shift on the bed and gasp slightly to herself, dragging his eyes back up in time to see her pull the blanket away to reveal her amputated leg.

"You aren't the only one who forgot things, didn't even remember it was gone until I tried to move it to get out of this... Bed. How, how bad is it?" The slight pause and hitching of her voice, as she reached down to run her hand along the slip of metal plating they had placed along the stump, made Naruto grab her hand reassuringly before she could get anymore worked up over it.

"It was a clean break, given you were in stasis, otherwise it could have been much worse, they have a bunch of pro... prosthetics?" He struggled to remember the word that the doctors had used, but obviously Ino knew more than he did as she nodded in understanding, the shock and rapid adjustment to the rapidly evolving changes to her life causing her to be far quieter than her usual boisterous self.

"Once you have gotten your head round things Ino-chan, Dr Chakwas has said she will take you through the different types, though she says we might need to let the leg settle first. If you want Ino-chan I can tell the others you need some more time..." She shook her head just as he expected, pulling her hand free from his and then holding it out expectantly with her best attempt at a resigned smile on her face.

"We don't have that time right now, especially with the whole 'galaxy destroying robots' you say someone is trying to bring back, and there's the fact that our friends are still out there waiting for us. Now, give me whatever this translator is and explain to me how it works before that little purple Kisame-girl comes charging back in here." It was a front, as much for his benefit as it was for her to calm herself down, but even as he handed the tool over Naruto couldn't help the happy feeling in his chest.

He wasn't alone anymore.

[]{}#%^*+=

"Stupid Cerberus, stupid Alliance, I should have known better..." If being in a fabricated prison cell and stripped of her gear and weapons wasn't enough of a blight on Kasumi Goto's already shit year, then the noises she was hearing from the cell nearby were sufficient by themselves.

Her former target, who had to be Spec Ops given the confidence with which he had stared down a Cerberus kill team, had come by ten minutes ago with a blonde girl in a wheelchair and missing a leg below the knee. She had tried to not let her discomfort at the situation show, imitating her best coy tone as she waved and greeted them. But the girl had merely done three signs in an unfamiliar sign language without a word, and then the two of them had moved further down the block of cells on the cargo ship Spectre Shepard used as a personal inventory whilst 'hunting' around the Galaxy.

There was a minute or two of quiet other than the opening of one of the other cell doors and the buzzing of words too quiet for her to hear, and then the shouting and screaming had kicked off. Whatever they were doing to the woman in the other cell was nothing short of horrific, and Kasumi had the sinking feeling that once they were done she was going to be next.

"Come on Kasumi, think! What have you got that can get you out of this?" It was a bad habit she had kept even with Keiji there, but when you were a master thief who lived in the shadows, if she didn't talk to herself then she'd probably not use her voice for months at a time.

Despite some of the 'situations' she had ended up in over the years, Kasumi never had and never would delude herself into thinking she could somehow overpower the two when they walked in to interrogate her, she wasn't a close combat fighter by any stretch of imagination.

She wasn't much of a fighter at all, she could take down a squad of basic mercs if she needed to with her skills but that was hardly something to write home about, especially given whose ship she was on. If the reports were to be believed, and she had plundered them from the terminal of the human ambassador to be sure they were, most of the people on Shepard's Kill-team could do the same in a fraction of the time.

So that ruled that out as an enticing offer to make, she would do well as part of the team on the ground, but if the Spectre was still out for blood than that wouldn't be enough by itself. Given the fact they had caught her the offer to act as their counter-intelligence officer probably wouldn't hold much weight either, though from what her target had said in the restaurant she had gotten past the rest of them just not his security measures, so perhaps appealing to him directly on that front would work?

"Assuming he isn't as pissed as Shepard is with Miranda getting away as she did..." It was a pretty miserable thought, that the man might simply be 'interrogating' them to blow off some steam, but it wasn't like Kasumi had much in the way of positives to look for right now as things were.

Her only small ray of hope was that he had brought the woman in the wheelchair with him, Kasumi assumed that she was an interrogator or psychologist of some kind, which he wouldn't have done if he didn't want answers...

Right?

[]{}#%^*+=

"She's remarkably quick on the ball, though she is in no way nearly tough enough mentally for this kind of work." Ino would probably have expanded further from where she and Naruto were watching Kasumi have a minor mental breakdown, if she wasn't having to maintain three different jutsu at once.

The first was the easiest to maintain, a modified genjutsu that was making Kasumi think they were rather brutally interrogating another prisoner and using her and Naruto's minds as a base for when their illusion selves got to dealing with Kasumi. It was the other two that were far more challenging, linking her mind so that she could hear Kasumi's thoughts and another to make the young thief think in Japanese rather than English. It was remarkable that their languages were nearly identical given they were from different planets and times, but it was a poignant kick in the face to Ino all the same.

If Naruto had asked her to interrogate literally anyone else, then Ino would have been useless without performing a full invasive scan of their brain, and even her father was unable to perform those kind of jutsu without some lasting effects on the subject. It was something the Elemental Nations had never had issues with, given that everyone spoke the same language, and until she could pick up the languages even passingly then she wouldn't be able to understand the thoughts she got from her targets.

"Are you okay Ino-chan? I think we have scared her enough that you can drop them now if you want to, no need to tire yourself out if you're still recovering." It was one of the things that she both loved and hated about Naruto, his incessant need to try and look after those around him was touching and infuriating in equal measure.

Still, in this instance he had a point, her chakra felt as lethargic as the rest of her body did and she didn't want to risk chakra exhaustion given the circumstances. Bringing her hands up to form the tiger seal, she cancelled the two jutsu that were allowing her to read Kasumi's thoughts, though she maintained the Genjutsu for the moment to allow them to continue talking in peace.

"True, but do you want to sell the idea just a little more? Just in case she gets stubborn?" Her smile became a little predatory as Naruto turned to look at her a little confusedly, just because she wouldn't be able to use her best techniques didn't mean she couldn't use some of her other skills effectively...

!"£$%^&*()_

The screaming cut off suddenly, and the sudden silence was quite possibly worse to Kasumi's already fragile grip on her composure, and for several minutes she was left with nothing but her own thoughts as she stayed as still as she could so as not to attract attention. Then, with a suddenness that made her jump physically as well as mentally, one of the cell doors was thrown open down the row of cells and a now familiar voice called out.

"Captain, I am going to need two crew to come and deal with clean up here..." The way it was said, with almost a joking tone when the man said 'clean up', made the fear that had been curling uncomfortably in the base of her stomach rear and threaten to take control entirely.

Even with her hearing, that she knew from experience was far better than most humans could claim, she only just made out the man's approach before he appeared outside her cell.

"Sorry about that thief-san, I had to get a little physical..." Her eyes took in the details even as her mind struggled to comprehend the casual way he dismissed what must have been a brutal beating, this man who looked barely old enough to enlist covered in blood despite what was obviously an effort to clean himself up.

Just as she was about to reply, Kasumi saw a pair of humans dressed in similar garb to the man in front of her run past her cell down the corridor, a cry of shock confirming what she had already mentally decided had happened. To her surprise, Naruto stayed silent as she watched them drag a body away, blood dripping and staining the dark steel floor.

"...d-chan, hood-chan, Kasumi!" She could hear what she thought was Naruto speaking to her, but it sounded fuzzy and distorted, and when she finally dragged her attention from the red skid marks outside her cell she found Naruto stood with a bloody knife in his hand.

" **Come on thief-san, come and play!"** No longer was the face the same as the one she first saw in the restaurant, there was a demented almost crazed grin on his face and a cold fury in his eyes.

"Kai!" There was Naruto's real voice again, though it didn't come from the Naruto in front of her, who raised his knife in fury as a wave of blue energy rolled over her and blasted him back out of the cell.

Then she was aware of someone's hand on her shoulder, and she nearly screamed when she looked up to find Naruto looking down at her, confusion and concern equally visible on his face.

"Hood-chan, whatever you saw just now wasn't real, are you okay?" He released his hand and she scrambled backwards away from him, eyes darting around as she did her best to calm her laboured breathing and get back some semblance of her composure.

It didn't help, though Naruto backing up gently did, as her mind gave up on comprehending what had just room span and the next few minutes became a blur to her, though she made out the arrival of several other people from the various voices that pierced her loose grip on what was going on around her.

"Ino, what hap..."

"Something took the illusion an..."

"What do you mean..."

"The commander needs to..."

As the room stopped spinning enough for Kasumi to get control of her breathing and regain a semblance of control over herself once more, she found herself backed into the corner of her now nearly empty cell, the woman in the wheelchair it only other occupant. She was clearly waiting for Kasumi to calm down, the only change in the woman's otherwise relaxed demeanour the occasional uncomfortable shift, probably due to her injury.

The silence stretched out over what felt like forever, but it seemed to help Kasumi calm down to the point where she felt like vocalising her most important question.

"What the fuck just happened?" Kasumi wasn't normally one to swear, which may as much be due to the fact she rarely talked with anyone other than when it was business related, though she liked to think that it was a solid attempt to maintain one of the few good habits she had left after Keiji died.

In this case though, with whatever hallucinogenic drug they had somehow managed to pump into her system having gone terribly wrong, she felt that letting loose some of the fear and adrenaline that had built up in her system was worth a temporary relaxing of that rule.

"What do you know about Naruto Uzumaki?" The woman seemed to ignore her question, though given it was the man who had just scared 20 years off her life they were talking about Kasumi assumed he might have had something to do with whatever had just happened.

"He has to be at least Spec Ops given his skills, and I know that Cerberus are interested enough in him to try and have me obtain his medical files. His 'history' if you can call it that is patchy at best, any good investigator can tell that he was sprung from somewhere less than a year ago, though given that display I can understand why the Alliance and the Council don't want his work publicised. More importantly, given that I memorised the names and faces of every member of the Normandy's crew as well as Commander Shepard's associates before trying this job, who are you and why are you talking to me instead of the blonde and buff one?"

It wasn't that Kasumi wanted Naruto in here right now, and she suspected that was part of the reason he wasn't there, given the scare she had just had seeing him again would definitely not have gone particularly well. But the woman was a mystery to her, and given the slight wince that was gone in an instant when Kasumi referred to the hallucination, she had something to do with what had just happened.

"My name is Ino Yamanaka, I am one of Naruto's team, or I was before he got the leg up on me..." The attempted joke about her leg was a thin one, but it was clearly meant to help metaphorically disarm the woman from Kasumi's point of view and make her more approachable.

"As much as I want to hear the story of however you got... that, can we please jump to the point where you either ask me for whatever information you want so we can get this over with? I am really not in the mood right now for whatever games you are trying to play." All she wanted right now was a long hot bath, some food and to try and sleep this shitstorm of a day off, and given she wasn't going to get two of them in all likelihood the third would have to do.

"A bath could be arranged, to be honest Naruto only wanted you in here originally so that we could get a read on you and your mindset, we wouldn't want you walking around as a flight risk after all." Ino's, if that was her name, words had Kasumi panicking. Was she so tired that she had said that out loud?"

"It is my real name, given that there are literally no records on me there wouldn't be much point in coming up with a fake name. And you aren't saying anything out loud, I am just trying to prove something to you so that when I explain things you aren't going to start claiming I'm lying..." Kasumi was doing her best to not let the implications of what the woman was saying get to her, but there was no way...

"Yes Ms Goto, I am reading your mind..." Kasumi only hoped that Naruto wasn't watching at that moment, her earlier breakdown had created enough of a bad impression without him seeing her facial expression right now...

[]{}#%^^*+=

"Agent Von, you have been utilising almost twice your usual level of expenditure this month, and whilst it is still within the agreed limits I have also noticed that you have spent a not insubstantial amount of your own personal income on an upgrade to your security systems. Is there a threat on the Citadel that we need to discuss?" Barla huffed into his ventilator awkwardly, though the moment the Shadow Broker had instructed him by text to stay after the monthly updates of his top operatives it had been obvious that he couldn't hide what was going on.

"Not a threat *cerchk* (Volus breathing noise), but a mercenary decided to try and threaten me personally during a late night negotiation. I have used incentives to hire some 'friends' to make it clear that trying to brute force your way into our business is a bad idea..." Best to make it sound like the matter was in hand, and he hadn't said anything that wasn't true...

"So the mercenary is dead? Or is this related to the rash of dead and crippled bounty hunters I am hearing about on the Citadel..." Damn, Barla should have known he wasn't going to pull one over the Shadow Broker, the man was a legend for a reason after all.

"No, it seems that he is more resourceful than I had originally imagined, and that resourcefulness is racking up more of a body count than I thought one man could rack up in such a short time..." To Barla's surprise the Shadow Broker laughed, quite possibly for the first time Barla could remember, before an alert highlighted a new message on Barla's omni-tool.

"Send me everything you have on this mercenary Agent Von. This sounds interesting enough to warrant some of my personal attention..." And for some reason, despite the fact this problem was no longer his to worry about, the Shadow Broker's interest in this 'Skull' character did nothing to reassure Barla that this was going to make his life any easier...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, it's all slowly starting to come together... Or at least some of the plot lines I have planned are starting to rear their beautiful complicated heads. We have my version of the Mindoir survivor plot line, the logical way of preventing Ino being Deus Ex that I wish I had come up with a couple of chapters earlier, the 'issue' with Kasumi's interrogation and of course a bit more Shadow Broker fun.
> 
> Slow going I know, but I have to try and not just copy/paste storylines/decisions from Medic Effect, which is challenging in multiple ways. But I persevere, and I hope everyone has a nice time thinking of where I am going to go next.
> 
> Review! Questions, queries and comments are all good little snacks for my imagination. :)


	18. A Whole lot of Heart

"No offence Commander, but must you get in a firefight every time you come to the Citadel?" Captain Anderson's shouted rhetorical question made Jane grin for a moment before the staccato of gunfire brought back the reality of the situation.

"This is not even the craziest part, wait till you hear who I got the info from. You've missed the action Anderson, don't try and deny it!" Leaning out from the column she was using as cover, Jane fired her pistol three times, breaking the shield on one of the Batarians attacking them and opening him up to her follow up throw.

"I would prefer it I had my armour with me, or at least the rest of your team backing us up. Where the hell is C-Sec?" It was a good question, since, even though the firefight had ended up with them falling back inside the clinic building, the initial exchanges were more than public enough that someone should have responded by now.

Three more Batarians appeared through the clinic's main doors, two of them carrying boarding shields that absorbed the rifle fire from Tyrhsa, the Turian who seemed to have fallen in quite handily with following her orders. The other Batarian was the one that really worried her, carrying what looked like a heavy machine gun, shield flickering as Jane nailed him once in the helmet before he ducked behind the shield wall.

"Our cover isn't going to last long against that! Are they still jamming our signals?" They were and with the amount of equipment they had with them, along with the timing of the ambush, this had obviously been a trap for her.

It made sense of course, Jane thought as she ducked back as the HMG opened up, and whether the Illusive man knew it was a trap or not was hardly of importance right now. For the quivering and shell shocked person next to her, Jane would have walked into any number of traps and ambushes with a smile on her face.

The clenched fists, uncontrollable shivering and wide eyes reminded Jane that the younger, much thinner version of her was definitely not trained for combat. Which, given her already fragile mental state, was not a good thing in the slightest.

"Cover me!" Which meant it was time to get serious, Jane holstering her pistol and drawing her shotgun, waiting for the HMG to stop firing before moving from behind the pillar.

Her barrier started taking fire immediately, but with the amount of shit they had gotten into recently she had spent time honing her abilities on the Normandy, Anderson and Tyrhsa beginning to target the Batarians who weren't behind the shield. The shielded Batarians obviously thought they were safe behind their improvised wall, but this was the perfect opportunity for Jane to test her new skill, based on what she had seen Naruto doing on Feros.

A normal throw wouldn't be enough to dislodge the shields but as she thrust both arms forward, the glowing energy on the two limbs joining together to make a biotic throw the size of a Volus, Jane liked to think she wasn't 'normal' by any standard.

The shields buckled under the force of the impact, the shield bearers staggering back from each other to make an opening. Calling upon her biotics once more, something she knew was going to give her a headache later, Jane  _charged._ She was across the room in an instant, the HMG armed Batarian acting as her organic brake as her form slammed into his, transferring the kinetic energy of her movement into him as she turned her shotgun on the nearest of the two shieldbearers and blasted two rounds into him at point blank range.

"The bitch is through, alert the othe…" Grabbing the remaining Batarian as the HMG Batarian was reduced to a stain on the wall, Jane used him as a shield as his 'comrades' opened up, the alien's body riddled with bullets in the seconds before the joyful sound of weapons overheating filled her ears.

Kicking the body, with a little biotic enhancement, saw it slam into two of the now panicking Batarian. Using the momentum of the kick, Jane turned and fired two rounds into the solitary Batarian that was on the left side of the clinic corridor, before turning back with a feral grin. Whilst he wasn't dead, missing a leg below the knee would certainly keep him out of the action about to commence, something he may end up being thankful for.

One of the remaining four Batarians had been clever enough to draw her side-arm, two shots finally destroying Jane's barrier before she replied with the final round of her shotgun before it overheated, breaking the Batarian's shield before Jane used the now useless firearm like a baseball bat to send her crumpling to the ground.

Finishing the swing by releasing the shotgun to fly into the face of the next nearest Batarian, who had just finished trying to cool his weapon down and instead drawn his combat blade, Jane drew her pistol with the other hand. Two rounds between the eyes dropped the stunned Batarian, the rest of the magazine dropped the other two's shields as they charged towards her.

"Die Rogna…" The first swing was so wide Joker could have dodged it, the haymaker allowing Jane to bury her own combat blade into the soft tissue of the Batarian's armpit, the second catching a biotic empowered kick that sent him flying into the clinic wall with a heavy crack.

It was at this point sounds rushed back to Jane and she realised she was gasping for breath, drenched in sweat and from the feel of things she had one hell of a nosebleed going on. There were still sounds of gunfire from outside, but it was Anderson's appreciative whistle that caused her to turn her head in his direction.

"Not exactly what I would call textbook methods of dealing with opponents behind cover, but it seems you have picked up some things from our mutual friend." Tyrhsa was far less polite about her view on what she had just seen happen, the Turian swearing several times under her breath before gasping and raising her weapon towards the door, the reaction causing her to spin around with weapons at the ready.

"The boss sent me ahead in case you needed a hand Taichou, though now I've seen you in action I think he needs to work harder on his apology. Now if you could stop pointing the gun and the little paper slicer at me, I can head back and let everyone know you are okay." The Naruto clone, as no-one else would talk to her in such a sarcastic but deferential tone at the same time, was armed to the teeth and looked like he was ready to use it.

"What delayed everyone? I thought I managed to get another call out to you all before the jamming started?" Jane knew she had, though given their public setting she neglected mentioning the message had been by Shadow Clone dispersal rather than by more traditional means.

"There were about 80 of these guys Shepard-taichou, they set up blockades on every route here and dug in, the boss and Wrex are leading the push as C-Sec were content to hem the bastards in. If we head out now we can control the situation before some C-Sec idiot tries to let his position go to his head, Garrus may end up doing something the idiot will regret." The clone was right, but before taking control out there, she had orders to give here.

"Tyrhsa, make sure all of these… Tulak'ruduki are disarmed and not a threat, probably try and stop a couple of them bleeding out at the same time." Looking at the female Batarian she had brained earlier, it was clear she had a concussion at least, though just to be safe Jane clocked her one to send her properly into the realms of unconsciousness.

The phrase she used to refer to the dead/disabled Batarians was probably the worst insult she knew, quite literally ' _a clan so despised and tainted that they are not worth using as slaves',_ but given their ruining of what was the happiest hour she had in years Jane felt it was justified. Seeing the Turian nod, Jane heading for the door a moment later, pausing at the door to give the most important order of all.

"Captain Anderson, when I give you the all clear, get my sister out of here quietly…"

[]{}#%^*+=

"Commander Shepard managed to get a call out before they jammed her comms, given the situation with the previous attempt on her life our team mobilised and moved to deal with the situation as fast as we could, and you can see the results." It was a… Strange feeling, despite the Executor keeping him on as an official member of C-Sec, to be providing evidence and guiding the official investigation into the attempted assassination of Commander Shepard from what was effectively the other side of the crime scene tape.

"40 dead and 18 injured Batarians, all with not even a minor criminal record between them. 8 dead civilians, 6 dead and 5 injured C-Sec officers. I don't call that results Investigator, I call that a disaster. Any idea how they knew where the Spectre would be?" Special Investigator Jethrus Markot Gibbs was a Turian who had been a member of C-Sec since just after the First Contact War, widely regarded as a very effective, if not overly friendly, investigator.

"It probably has something to do with this boss, found it in the admin office of the clinic." It was not the first time Garrus had interacted with Markot's team, though it was the first time he had worked on a case with them directly, so he recognised Investigator Michael Denotzo as he walked up with the file in question.

Garrus could guess what it was, though they had gone to some effort to get Commander Shepard's newly discovered sister out of the area before the investigation began, they hadn't had time to do more than a hurried search of the clinic before C-Sec actually took over. To his credit, Gibbs took one look at the picture on the front of the file before unclipping it and moving it inside the file itself, before fixing Garrus with his renowned 'thousand yard' stare as the humans called it.

"Something you want to tell us, Agent Varakin?" Garrus shrugged, despite their best efforts the news would probably spread by the need of the day, especially if he acted evasive and caused these guys to start digging.

"Commander Shepard received Intel that indicated a person of personal interest was being held here, I will need to ask the Commander for more details if you need them Investigator. Any news on the remaining attackers?" A dozen or so of the Batarians had broken through the C-Sec encirclement when it became clear the assassination attempt had failed, and though they'd managed to chase down a couple of them the rest still at large.

"We have increased security on the main transportation hangars and checkpoints at the hubs between the Presidium and the Citadel Bodies, but given we have no arrival records on these guys it is obvious they got in through unofficial channels… Which I will contact the trafficking team about right now boss." It was amusing to see Tony's reaction to Gibbs' raised eyebrow, the human hurriedly striding off towards a quieter area of the rather large crime scene to make the call.

Without another word Gibbs moved off towards the row of Batarian bodies, Garrus following as he could see two other members of Gibbs' team examining the bodies and taking photographs.

"McGee, Xeveena, sitrep." McGee, whose real name was Micalus Geren from what Garrus could remember, didn't even look up from where he was examining one of the fallen Batarians omni-tools.

"Most of these have been wiped, too clean for amateurs to achieve, though if done by pros remarkably sloppy, should be able to extract some file fragments and track their movements. Local C-Sec team working to get camera footage, given jammer Spectre's team found unlikely to get good footage." Gibbs seemed to accept that was everything he was going to get from the Salarian, turning his attention to the female Drell that had just finished photographing the nearest Batarian.

"All the dead Batarians have had recent surgery on their right arms, no doubt to remove some kind of gang or group mark that could be used to identify them, Abbie is running their past affiliations to see if it can be narrowed down. Despite the reports of heavy weaponry and armour, many of the Batarians were stripped of all valuables by the time we arrived, something that I am told is a habit of the young human attached to the Spectre's team." Garrus winced as Gibbs turned in his direction, though given there was a Spectre's involvement they could technically claim the gear, Garrus knew Gibbs would want to rule out every weapon that could have killed the civilians before chasing down the surviving Batarians.

"I will talk with the Commander and see if your expert can come and perform ballistics testing on our armoury. Though if these guys came from off the Citadel, we may be leaving to do some… Investigating of our own." This was assuming Naruto was storing the 'liberated' weapons on the Normandy or the Ontario, but Garrus could work that out later.

"I'd prefer it if your team stayed on the Citadel, until I rule them out from having killed any of the civilians, but I suppose tracking the remaining suspects would normally be out of our authority. Xeveena!" The Drell jumped to attention, though Garrus noticed her arm instinctively went to her pistol.

"Go tell Ai to pack up her gear and prepare your own, you will be acting as the liaison until we finish the investigation." Garrus was fairly certain that was in fact what his role was meant to be, but whilst C-Sec couldn't stop the  _Normandy_  from leaving the Citadel, there were several ways they could impound the  _Ontario_ for a couple of days if Gibbs wanted to be difficult.

"Understood, I will go speak to Tony and make sure he finishes off the scans and photos. Ducky wanted to speak to you Gibbs, something he found with one of the civilians." That didn't sound good, especially with the suspicion that one of his team could have caught a civilian with a stray volley during their storming of the Batarians' position.

The two of them walked over in silence to where the senior M.E for the Presidium was helping two of his assistants lift the body of an Elcor that had been caught in the attack. Even with three of them they were struggling, so Garrus hurried forward to help them heft the body into the nearest grav-car used by C-Sec when dealing with these kinds of crimes.

"You wanted to see me Duck?" No-one had ever told Garrus why everyone called the aged Volus by different variations of the Earth avian animal, from what he had been able to find out it had started less than a year after the Contact war, which was shortly after the Volus started with C-Sec.

"Yes Jethrus, *cerchk*, I thought you might want to see this. I was scanning all of the victims to allow me to *cerchk* make a preliminary diagnosis, and I came across this poor fellow…" The Volus waddled over to where another of his kind was laid out on the floor, two bloody holes in the lower part of his chest indicating what had killed him, but other than that Garrus couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Looks like a double gunshot to the lower torso Duck, not exactly a surprising cause of death, though obviously there is something I am missing if you are drawing our attention to it." The Volus chuckled to himself before nodding and gesturing to his omni-tool.

"Very astute Jethrus, yes I was very surprised at the fact these two wounds caused what seemed to be an almost instant death for our victim, he pretty much died where he fell given the blood pooling. Normally a gut shot or even two *cerchk* would have a decent chance of not hitting anything vital, and given it took us less than twenty minutes to clear to this point we should have been able to at least try to save him."

Tapping a couple more times on his Omni-tool, Ducky suddenly lit the area up with a 3-D hologram of the Volus in front of them, and even before he began speaking Garrus knew what he was so interested in.

"Upon my initial scan, I was surprised to find that the cause of death was due to the bullets piercing the Volus' second heart, which looks to have been implant… Investigator?" It was at this point Garrus realised that he was gripping his hands into fists hard enough for his suit servo-motors to be whining slightly.

"Dr Saleon…" Judging by the sharp inhalation by the good doctor he wasn't the only one who still knew the name, though Garrus was already moving away and downloading the information C-Sec had on the victim, only stopping when Gibbs barked from behind him.

"Investigator!" Garrus was so worked up from the revelation that he barely resisted the urge to growl as he spun back, thankfully he didn't as Gibbs continued a moment later.

"Take McGee and Tony, they are pretty much done here and can help you with tracking down some leads. I would also contact your Spectre, given how much trouble your team like to get themselves into…" The senior agent had a point, and whilst Shepard was going to be distracted with her sister and the assassination attempt, Garrus knew at least one member of the team that would be happy doing a little frog squashing.

Perhaps he would call the favour Kaidan owed him as well, in place of the credits from the poker game…

[]{}#%^*+=

"Keelah…" Tali wasn't going to try and claim she wasn't amazed and awed quite easily, though she liked to think given the number of crazily dangerous and wonderful things she had seen or done since joining the  _Normandy_ she was becoming harder to please, but as she watched the sparring match across the cargo bay she really couldn't help but stop and gawk.

Commander Shepard was considered a monster on the battlefield, an unflattering but accurate statement in Tali's opinion, given she had seen the results of some of the Commander's close quarter work more than once. She was currently unleashing a furious assault of biotic enhanced punches, kicks and other less traditional strikes that would have dropped your average Krogan in the first ten to fifteen seconds.

"You're wasting energy again Shepard-Taichou, and you're putting too much power into your strikes." The recipient of this onslaught, who for some reason volunteered to distract the Commander whilst Dr Chakwas was checking her sister over, was clearly struggling to stay ahead of the Commander given how hard he was breathing.

Despite the fact something had changed between them in a negative manner, Commander and Shinobi having been closer than some couples Tali knew until after an unknown incident on the Citadel when they had returned from Feros, Naruto retained his friendly jovial manner whilst 'sparring'. He was doing a good job of redirecting the Commander's emotions with his incessant dodging and 'advice', though the two times Shepard had caught him full on, her victory smirk had been damn near predatory in nature.

With how much energy Shepard was unleashing, it was only another minute or so before she started to run out of metaphorical steam, her biotics flickering and her short sharp jabs becoming more like laboured haymakers.

"That's enough Taichou." Naruto obviously had noticed the signs as well, though Shepard ignored his attempt to stop, something that Tali knew from experience would not end well.

Naruto was more than happy to push people to their limits in training, which she knew from the days after their 'spars' when every move felt like she was pulling a muscle, but when a certain Krogan pushed those limits Naruto showed everyone why those limits weren't there for HIS safety. Wrex had insisted on a spar following the revelations on Feros, and quickly lost himself into the Krogan 'Blood Rage' when Naruto spent his time dancing around the Krogan's attempts to grapple or tackle him.

The rage increased his speed enough that he managed to catch one of Naruto's arms, but the attempt to bite it off made it clear that rational Wrex wasn't home anymore. Everyone who had been off duty at the time had come to watch, no-one wanted to miss such a clash of titans after all, which meant everyone got to watch what happened next. Naruto managed to pull back his arm enough to avoid losing it entirely, though Wrex still removed enough of his bicep that Tali could have sworn she had seen bone as the young ninja  _roared_.

It was a sound so full of pain and anger that Shepard had jumped in to try and separate the two of them, only for Naruto's body to become covered in that red energy she had only seen him use once or twice before she could. Even as Wrex went in for a second bite Naruto spun with unnatural speed and punted the Krogan across the room with a single roundhouse kick, Wrex's barrier shattering from just that one move.

Then Naruto dashed after the tumbling Krogan so quickly he almost became a red blur, leaping into the air so that his heel kick slammed into the top of Wrex's head plate just as the Krogan rolled to a stop, indenting the floor plate they were fighting on with the force of the impact. It was a merit to the Krogan's legendary toughness that Wrex still managed to get up after that, though as Shepard and Kaidan used Lift to separate the two of them it was clear that the blow had given Wrex a rather serious concussion at least.

"Jane-chan, stop!" Thankfully the Commander was not a Krogan lost in a blood rage, and Naruto reverting to using her first name seemed to be enough to break her out of her focussed state, the biotic energy draining from her limbs and her relaxing to a more casual stance.

It was clear how much punishment Shepard had inflicted upon herself a moment later, her legs giving way as the adrenaline left her body, something Naruto seemed to have anticipated as he caught her almost instantly. Tali was too far away to hear the short conversation the two of them held before Naruto helped move Shepard over to where she was sitting, but judging by the smile and the light blush on the Commander's face it had obviously been something she approved of.

The smile and the blush made Tali angry for a moment before she managed to beat the urge down. As much as she liked Naruto, something that was far from a secret on the ship given how much Ashley liked to wind her up about it, Tali knew that there was no way that it would work out even if he liked her back. Between the infection risks and the lack of actual skin on skin contact that could occur 99% of the time, as well as the obvious need for him to try and re-populate his race, she knew that even he would run out of patience eventually with her.

"Come on Tali-chan, your turn! After seeing how quickly you picked up some of the moves that I showed you last time, I am sure you will master these next couple in like… 5 minutes!" It was the sort of cheerful over-the-top boasting that would have annoyed Tali if anyone else had said it about themselves, but Naruto somehow always knew how to voice it like his honest appraisal of her skills and talent, which never failed to cheer her up, even if he didn't always realise what he was doing.

The smile that had blossomed on her face turned bittersweet at that thought, because it was the sort of thought that Tali had about Commander Shepard as well on occasion, the fiery woman now surprisingly open and friendly with her despite knowing that she fancied Naruto. If the two of them did get together, which Tali would take as a consolation prize given her own inability to pursue him properly, Tali knew it would make her future all the more difficult to decide upon.

Despite her desire to help her people and their fleet, Tali knew that if either of these 'humans' asked her to instead spend her time permanently on the Normandy or with them instead, she couldn't possibly hope to predict what her response would be…

!"£$%^&*()_+

" _Another_  set of turrets! If we needed more proof that this 'Dr Heart' was doing something shady, the amount of automated defences on a simple clinic definitely puts him on my naughty list!" Kaidan smirked at the exasperation in Investigator Denotzo's voice, whilst he had been a little uncertain at first about the inclusion of two C-Sec officers in their strike team, the two of them had performed more than adequately as they dealt with the clinics automated defences.

"Good news is that I nearly have access to clinic's mainframe, just need to remove last few firewalls… Done!" Investigator Geren's work in hacking into the clinic was truly impressive to Kaidan, whilst Garrus was a decent hacker when he put his mind to things, Kaidan hadn't seen anyone hack into a system that quickly other than Tali.

"Well if you could turn these things off before we have to smash them all… Well I don't mind, but the collateral might make it harder to find something on this Saelon guy, and then Garrus will get even more uptight…" Wrex probably wasn't joking about enjoying the smashing, but several seconds of furious tapping shut the turrets down before the Krogan could carry on his rampage.

"Well done Investigator, see if you can find anything that we can use to track Dr Saleon, or whatever alias he is using these days…" With a nod the Salarian carried on typing away, leaving Kaidan in charge of the room.

Whilst there couldn't be an official ranking structure in a Spectre strike team, it was generally accepted that he and Garrus were usually the ones in charge of giving orders when Commander Shepard was busy. Whilst his 'seniority' in terms of the time he had spent serving Shepard could have been used to pull rank, Kaidan decided instead it was personal involvement that meant he was in charge instead.

"Garrus, you and Denotzo search for any information about where Saleon is, or whether he has another alias behind the 'Dr Heart' he used in opening up this place. Wrex and I will handle security and clean up." The Krogan growled, but after a moment seemed to change his mind and started towards one of the inactive turrets.

"Better than paperwork, though I still want my frog squashing soon…" Garrus was already flicking through papers and files, showing Kaidan that he had been right in his assumption.

He didn't know the full story behind Garrus and the Salarian they were after, but as Agent Denotzo had to hand Garrus a pair of gloves and remind him not to contaminate an area where they could gather evidence, it was clear that whatever it was Garrus was letting it control him.

"Lieutenant Alenko." Joker's voice over the comm caused Kaidan to split his attention between him and dismantling one of the busted turrets for parts.

"We are just clearing up Joker, good timing, I was about to call the Normandy for a salvage crew. Though I doubt it is some kind of hidden biotic based premonition power that has you contacting me." There was a commotion between Agent Denotzo and Garrus, probably meaning they had found something of interest, but Kaidan wasn't confident of his ability to triple task effectively so would check in a minute.

"Good guess, we think we have a lead, something that Drell chick came up with when the doctor sent us his initial findings. To say the Commander is eager to get going is an understatement. Think you can wrap up what you need in 2 hours?" Looking at where Garrus was working away on his omni-tool, Kaidan decided to make an executive decision.

"Wrex and I will be back in half that, if Naruto can point us in the direction of his storage place on the Citadel that he no doubt has but hasn't told us about yet. Garrus will stay here and coordinate any new evidence or missions that arise." That was going to definitely be a secondary concern for Garrus by the look of it, but Kaidan wasn't one to air people's private issues over comms, he would explain to Commander Shepard in person when they got back to the ship.

"Got it, I will patch you through now, see you in an hour." There was the hiss of static for a moment, before an unfamiliar female voice came over the comms.

"Senju Spare Parts and Scrap service, Sarai speaking. How can we serve you today?" Kaidan knew Naruto could change into a  _very_ convincing human female, the time he transformed naked in the middle of the canteen one of Kaidan's most embarrassing memories of all time, but he couldn't out and out assume the voice on the phone was him without risking Naruto's secret.

"This is Lieutenant Alenko, I need to speak to Naruto Uzumaki about some personal items that I no longer need." It was one of the passphrases that Commander Shepard had come up with, in case anyone in the team wanted to confirm if they were talking to one of Naruto's disguised clones over the comms without outright asking.

"The Boss is busy right now Lieutenant, though he has left instruction to accommodate any business from a fine upstanding gentleman like yourself. The boss has recently hired a new team that I can allocate to obtain your items, though they will need you to sign for them when they arrive." Interesting, that made it sound like Naruto was using more than just clones now to populate his operation, or at least that was how Kaidan understood what he was hearing.

"Of course, sending you the location now. Some of the packages are a little… unwieldy, so they may need to bring a way of transporting them discretely. Tell them to ask for Investigator Garrus Vakarian on arrival, he will make sure they only take the items they need to…" Dear God, the more Kaidan carried on the conversation the more he sounded like some cheesy spy out of Earth's movie history.

"I will make sure they bring some heavy lifting equipment and a grav cart, understood Lieutenant. Looking at the address they will not make it there for at least an hour, will that be an issue?" Looking at where the three C-Sec agents were now beginning to rifle through the cabinets of medical files, Kaidan shook his head before realising he wasn't on a video call.

"That won't be a problem, the urgency of these items isn't important, just make sure that the team know the condition of the items on arrival is important…"

"Of course Lieutenant. Is there anything else?" Letting the clone know there wasn't anything else, Kaidan dropped the call and started making his way over to Garrus, even if the Turian was a little distracted he would be professional enough to look after a retrieval team as well as his own investigation…

Given he and Wrex needed to start heading back to the Normandy if they were to make his self-imposed deadline in time, that's what Kaidan hoped at least…

!"£$%^&*()_+

"What have you found?" The cold irritation that creeped into his voice was something that the Illusive Man would normally internally berate himself over, composure and control were two of the most important characteristics a man of his position could possess after all.

But as the massive screen in front of him jumped to a camera feed showing the command room of one of the Cerberus satellite bases littering the Terminus System, Operator Kai wiping his blade on the body of one of several bodies littering the normally pristine rooms whilst considering his response, a little loss of emotional control felt justified in these particular circumstances.

"Senior Operative Bengal was very… resistant to Agent King's approach of a 'surprise audit', and even when Operative Bengal let Agent King inside she tried to prevent access to certain areas of the facility. When Agent King pressed for entrance, Operative Bengal ordered the other Cerberus agents at the facility to silence her." After the ambush at the facility Commander Shepard's kin was being held at, the Illusive man had been more furious than he had been in years.

After the considerable resources he had spent, both monetarily in hiring the likes of Goto and the smugglers to bring his agents aboard the Citadel to rescue Agent Lawson but also in terms of manpower, his big attempt to mend some of the mental 'damage' done to his organisation's reputation had been potentially de-railed within hours. Whilst he could claim ignorance regarding the trap to Uzumaki and by association Shepard, their view of Cerberus would make it very unlikely they would take his word at face value.

"I revealed myself to prevent Agent King from being sacrificed, and attempted to get the other Agents to stand down. Whilst roughly 70% of the Agents stood down on my order, the remaining 7 retreated to this control room and attempted to activate the Facility's self destruct mechanism. When I breached the door, they were… unwilling to surrender." Despite himself, the Illusive man let a ghost of a smile cross his face.

Operator Kai was very, zealous when dealing with those who opposed him or Cerberus, so the Illusive man doubted that they had been given much of a chance to regret their decision.

"My team is in the process of sweeping the facility now, but given the additional security features not on our official manifest and their determination to prevent our investigation, either the leadership team were dealing on the side or we're accepting bribes. Operative Bengal is alive, for now. Do you wish me to interrogate her or bring her back with me?" As much as the emotional side in the Illusive man desired him to give Kai the go ahead then and there, what Uzumaki had said about his organisation made him take a deep breath and calm himself down.

"Bring her here, I need to know everything she has been doing, especially as all of her reports showed nothing more than the occasional deviation from her training." Kai nodded his head in understanding, allowing the Illusive man to cut the feed, feeling a sensation he hadn't felt in years.

His hands darted across the keyboard in front of him, bringing up report after report from the station in question. Everything was  _too_ normal, including the occasional blip in the writing style to show Operative Bengal had been stressed when she had written it, and because of that he hadn't even remembered the reports until he looked them up.

And that was the problem, dozens of these kind of reports passed to him or his top operators every  _week_. Years ago, these would have been exactly the type of reports that he would have focused on. They either implied that the reporter wasn't being pushed and therefore felt that average was perfectly okay, or…

He saw it as he flipped through the reports one after another, a pattern in the budgetary monies being spent on and brought in by Cerberus operations leading to money being allocated to operations he couldn't remember and weren't mentioned in the bodies of the reports outside the budget. It was mostly values less than 20,000 credits, which meant he hadn't paid them any mind as he skimmed from one report to another, and the project names were bland enough that they hadn't caught his attention enough to remember from one week to the next.

But over the 20 reports he had checked so far, Operative Bengal and her team had siphoned off over 150,000 credits via these dummy operations, enough to line their pockets significantly given their already lucrative wages. His hand paused on the last file, eyes fixed on the last project name Operative Bengal had used for siphoning money, though this one was a large credited operation designed to hide the losses from other projects.

Standing from his seat, the Illusive man moved with remarkable determination towards the side room he had for contacting people via quantum entanglement. His chair continued spinning from the force of the sudden movement for a few seconds, before coming to a stop with only the slightest of squeaks. It faced the central screen, three words that had aggravated it's owner to the point of spontaneous action blown up in the middle of the screen, almost mockingly.

**Operation: Elysium Burning**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: People have complained about A LOT of things about this fic, everything from Naruto's spear to the fact that he is underpowered compared to the Anime. But the biggest sticking point people seem to have for the most part is 'you can't suddenly have Cerberus become nice/good'. What surprises me is that some of these people are those who were all for the 'anti-human/evil Council I had going at the beginning/still going now.
> 
> Anyway, this isn't the Illusive man suddenly changing tack completely, or all the acts Cerberus 'did' being false. This is my attempt at pointing out something people seem to struggle to understand, that neither the Illusive man or the shadow broker are God.
> 
> They both rely on a large amount of subordinates to be as powerful as they seem, feeding them intel that their strategic minds lobby for the best possible advantage and acting as their weapons/tools, but neither of them are perfect. If someone or some people in that system starts playing their own version of the game, then their power becomes far weaker, especially if they don't notice.
> 
> So you have a rotten Cerberus, filled with Cells essentially acting as their own mini criminal cartels underneath the surface of dutiful agents, the Illusive man beginning to question his skills and the motivations of his organisation. All done in a subtle 'cause and effect' stretching all the way back to when the Illusive man first started paying attention to Naruto.
> 
> It isn't even in an obvious manner, or at least it is far more subtle than some of the suggestions I have had, and it will not cause a large change in ME 1 as it takes TIME for people to change.
> 
> Anyway, rant on the smallest section of this chapter over. What did people think of the rest of it? Before people go on the 'No way so many Batarians could infiltrate the Citadel', the Citadel is HUGE, with millions if not billions of people on it. More than that, mercs bring all their weapons aboard all the time.
> 
> This chapter covers my personal version of the Mindoir backstory mini-quest, with a far more personal incentive to Jane, as well as introducing the Dr Saleon storyline completely by coincidence ;). I also wanted to use the opportunity to show that whilst Naruto is powerful, he isn't the only BAMF in the team, especially as Jane and the others begin to improve their training and skills based on what he does.
> 
> What did people think of my Mass Effect of the NCIS team? I still have to decide species for Abby, Palmer and Kate (who may/may not be alive…), but I think it is a good mix of obvious choices and surprises. I think it is a good homage, prevents me having to create new OCs, and fleshes out C-Sec a bit more without needing to delve too deeply.
> 
> On a more serious note, I have to offer an apology now. I have recently bought a house, which all of a sudden means I have suddenly got to worry about this whole 'being an adult and managing my budget' thing. I know I don't post regularly, but this is me letting you guys know that that rate is going to drop significantly going forward.
> 
> I did set up P a treon account, but I don't think what I offer on here is going to be worth people spending money on. Though, if you want to check it out, it is the same username as I use here. Perhaps I am being overly pessimistic.
> 
> I have muscled through all of my working stories to provide you with a new chapter for each of them, I hope you all enjoy them, and apologies for the bad news.


	19. Dropping the Ball

**Normandy Cargo Deck, An hour before the Op at 'Dr Heart's' Clinic**

**Ashley Williams, Alliance Navy Gunnery Chief and Spectre's Soldier**

"And this is where we store most of our immediate supplies, including the ones that were requisitioned during the ambush." When Ashley had been 'asked' by the Commander to 'assist' the C-Sec Forensics Specialist come on board for Weapons and Ballistics Analysis, she had, rather poorly of her now she thought about it, assumed that it would be a Salarian or an Asari.

So when Joker had called her up to the Command deck, Ashley had been more than slightly surprised to find herself looking at a female Krogan, something that had been noticed by the Krogan in question who portrayed an aura of expectation and patient acceptance. After getting over the initial shock though, Ashley found Ai to be very different from her experiences with other Krogan, even ignoring the fact that Ai was almost a foot shorter than any other Krogan she had met.

Ai had quickly explained that she hadn't even met another Krogan until she was almost 50, and given she had been raised by an Asari/Salarian couple, she had found the 'fight first, ask questions never' attitude espoused by most Krogan as almost incomprehensible to her.

"'Requisition', that is one of the more interesting ways I have heard battlefield looting being referred to as… Sorry, I didn't mean to… it's just that this is my first time on an Alliance Ship and working directly with a Spectre to boot." That didn't mean that Ai didn't take anything from her heritage, the dry and unsubtle sarcasm would make her fit in with Wrex on a humour basis if nothing else.

"No problem, it's not exactly what is considered respectable or honourable, but Lieutenant Uzumaki and the Commander are more concerned with keeping us alive and well provisioned. Given we are trying to track down another Spectre, with decades of resources and experience beyond what we have officially been given, I personally have no complaints with bending the rules to play catch up."

Given the reservations of not only Lieutenant Alenko but also Liara and members of the Alliance Marine teams towards Naruto's 'requisitioning', the fact that others were disapproving of the practice didn't even faze Ashley for a moment. If it weren't for the fact that Naruto or his 'salvage teams' cleared the areas even while combat was going on, she would probably have assisted, as she very much meant what she had just said.

Even if this Batarian ambush ended up having nothing to do with Saren, the fact that they had been outnumbered and caught by surprise on the supposedly 'safe' Citadel for a second time only made it clear that playing by the rules was going to put them at a mortal disadvantage.

"Thank you, I will make sure that any equipment not linked to the civilian deaths aren't considered official evidence then, Gibbs hinted as much when he sent me here with Xeveena. Can I check your team's weapons first? Best to clear all of them in case you need them before I am finished with the… That is a lot of weapons…"

Given the Mako was now stored on the  _Ontario_  most of the time, Commander Shepard and the rest of them had spent some time altering the layout of the Cargo bay to suit their needs. Where the Mako had been there was enough space for a small sparring area, for Naruto to train the Civilians in hand to hand combat, or for when she or one of the other marines wanted to be put through their paces.

Around that were supply crates and other ship related storage, though most of these were now stored on the  _Ontario_  given the massive difference in storage capacity. This accounted for about two thirds of the right hand side of the Cargo area, with the remaining space on that side allocated for the storage lockers for the strike team members, though even that was getting very cramped given the number of team members they had now. The other half of the cargo space had been transformed into Equipment storage racks and facilities, primarily to make the lives of those who liked to tinker with the weapons such as Ashley and Wrex easier, as Naruto had a bad habit of simply piling his spoils indiscriminately.

"They certainly weren't on the Citadel for a casual stroll, which makes me wonder how they got through Hangar Security without raising any alarms or alerts by C-Sec." It was a rhetorical question for the most part, the lack of all but the most basic security on the Citadel something that had been raised and then 'suppressed' as part of the official investigation into the assassination attempt of the Commander and Executor Pallin.

Given that the attempted suppression of the issue had only come after the initial report had been published to the senior bureaucrats on the Citadel, it had taken no time for the whole document to be leaked onto the extranet. This had been something of a scandal at the time, though it had quickly been overtaken by other gossip as was typical of the Citadel's populous.

"The Executor has the same concerns, he has members of our cyber division checking for discrepancies with the docking and cargo records of the last few days, but given the volume of traffic…" Ai shrugged in a 'what can you do' manner, before she let go of the grav cart she was pulling along full of her scientific instruments to move towards the nearest of the weapon racks, which contained some of the side arms and smaller weapons the Batarians had been carrying with them.

"Based on the preliminary analysis, the deaths of the civilians were mostly caused by large calibre rounds rather than standard ammunition. So, while I test your team's weapons, would someone be able to separate out those types of weapons? It would definitely make things quicker to sort out…" Ashley knew she could have called one of the crew to do it, but given everyone would merely waiting for some lead for them to chase, it wasn't like she had a lot else to do right now.

"Sure, I will sort through them now, it shouldn't take too long…"

!"£$%^&*()_+

**Normandy Command deck, 20 minutes later**

**Mari, 'The New Growth'**

"Has anyone reviewed the footage from…"

"What about this? This ship…"

"Who took my coffee!"

It was strange to see such a… contrast… there really wasn't a better word, between 'her' memories as Shikamaru and the chaos that was happening around her in the ship she now called home. None of the, admittedly disorganised, memories she had of the ninja were of much use in this situation

For the most part Mari found herself relying on the memories of Shiala, the fles-Asari offered to the Old Growth by Saren, whose memories had been copied by the Old Growth. The Asari Commando had been well travelled, even before she had joined up with Matriarch Benezia and then ultimately Saren, driven by a wanderlust that many Asari fall prey to at least once in their comparatively long lives.

Such experience would be advantageous for Naruto to use against the Cold Ones and their puppet who pretended to be the puppet master, the part of her developed by Shikamaru's memories allowing her to analyse the Asari's fighting style and be impressed at her skill, if not her magnitude of ability in comparison to what she had 'seen' some ninja perform.

The fact that Shiala was still on the  _Ontario_ , in one of the retrofitted cells Naruto had requested, was something that Mari thought might be useful in the near future. Though, in all the chaos that had happened since finding Ino on Feros, Mari got the feeling that Commander Shepard and Naruto had forgotten about the recovering Asari Commando. If so, they probably wouldn't mind if she struck up a deal with Benezia's ex-follower, physical training would always beat memories or theoretical knowledge after all.

"Is it always so… Chaotic aboard this ship Officer Mari? I will admit this is not what I expected of a Spectre's crew, even in these circumstances…" It took a few moments before Mari realised that the question had been directed at her, mainly by looking around to see that there was physically no one else within easy hearing distance, her eyes meeting those of the Drell Xeveena who was looking at her now with the sort of piercing gaze that made it difficult for Mari to not reflexively alter her form for combat.

Naruto had asked Mari to keep an eye on the C-Sec officer while she was on the ship, a sign that many of Commander Shepard's crew took as an indication of her skill and trustworthiness, but Mari wasn't so sure. In fact, logically she knew this was as much a test for her abilities outside of combat, a rather troublesome sign that Naruto knew exactly where she was lacking in.

"No idea, I have only recently come aboard myself." Even as she finished speaking Mari winced, knowing even before Xeveena's eyes widened ever so slightly that the Drell had caught her slip up.

"So, they assign a rookie to keep an eye on me and make sure I don't go anywhere I shouldn't, I think I should feel a little upset about that. But I suppose I shouldn't look a gift cow in the mouth…" The odd phrase threw Mari off for a moment, and she had to resist the strange urge to correct the phrase to what she thought was correct.

But that was based on Shikamaru's memories, so for all Mari knew the phrase Xeveena had used was correct in this time/culture. Thankfully, before Mari had to work out whether she needed to try and continue the conversation, Xeveena's omni-tool beeped to life with a series of messages.

"Ducky has been efficient as always it seems. Is there somewhere… Quieter that we can go? I wish to have a look through the data myself, before handing it over to the crew, I am meant to be assisting the investigation after all. Besides, they are all running around like a group of headless… You get the idea." Mari didn't, or at least didn't get whatever reference Xeveena was referring to, but reaching out to her spores she focused on answering the question rather than her need to develop her common knowledge in the near future.

"The area by the cockpit should be free, and it is a little quieter at least. Could you forward me the data as well? Then I can look through it at the same time." If the Normandy was in flight then the cockpit wouldn't have been free, Joker even slept in the pilot's seat sometimes, rather than go through all the effort of hauling himself down to the bunks on the crew deck.

But even Joker needed downtime, and reaching out further with her ship wide network of spores, Mari found the man playing some kind of card game with Engineer Adams and a couple of the other engineers. Mari had been more than prepared to not release any spores on the Normandy, given what had happened to the colonists on Feros caution was expected if not outright suspicion.

But after the Batarian ambush, which she hadn't even heard about before it was almost over due to her self appointed task of watching over Ino from the shadows, Commander Shepard had  _ordered_ her to do it the moment her sister was in the Med-bay. It seemed that the Commander was  _far_  more protective of her newly discovered family then worried about another espionage attack.

"Of course, please lead the way. Though you will have to provide me an extranet address for me to send you the files." For a moment Mari froze, realising the gigantic error she had potentially just made, given that her own Omni-tool was less than a day old.

She had Shiala's memories of how to use such a device, which helped. But she hadn't even gotten around to trying it out, let alone setting up an extranet account, after a Naruto clone dropped it off earlier that 'day' cycle. Pressing the email function on her omni-tool, Mari was more than slightly relieved when it started up, with a single email in her inbox that she immediately realised was probably from Naruto.

"Of course, here is the address." Reeling off the numbers that she had instantly memorised after opening 'her' email for the first time, Mari knew that Xeveena was probably surprised by her actions, but the Drell didn't mention it as she typed away into her omni-tool.

"There you go. Now let's have a look." As Xeveena started looking through several 3D representations of what looked like the Batarians initial autopsies, there was a stream of pinging noises that symbolised the arrival of the same data to her omni-tool.

There was a massive amount of data, which given it had only been a few hours since the ambush was a sign that at least one part of C-Sec was efficient in its operation. Just because the data was available though didn't mean that Mari knew where to start, the Old Growth had never had to deal with such a form of data crunching. Shiala had always been more of a 'solving problems directly' type as well, which left Mari with one persona she could call upon.

Mari didn't dislike the memories that Shikamaru had forced upon her, especially as they had saved her life with Naruto, but that didn't mean they weren't… different. Even as she 'plunged' into them, she could feel her own mindset changing to become similar to that of the Shinobi who Naruto referred to as the 'lazy genius'.

Little facts from around her suddenly began to jump out to her in a way that they had never done so before, even glancing at Xeveena made her head hurt from the number of subtle 'tells' that the Drell had, the conclusions her mind reached echoing like little voices in her head as Mari drew her eyes back to the data in front of her.

_Well trained, far beyond C-Sec standards…_

_Pendant chain visible around neck, only personal touch to her otherwise regulation prefect C-Sec uniform. Strong attachment to pendant, but one that implies that the one it is related to is no longer here…_

_Beyond Email and official C-Sec security programs, nothing other than the starting programs on her Omni-tool…_

_Lonely…_

The last point was particularly jarring to Mari, even as a flux of similar data began to flow over her from her spore 'network', the little voices growing to a cacophony in her mind as she struggled not to grab her head as the pain built.

If this was what Shikamaru had to put up with all the time, no wonder the man liked to spend as much of his time asleep as he could. Given some of the things her spores had just 'told' her, Mari wouldn't be able to look at some of the crew in the same way again. Breaking her connection with her spores for the moment, Mari almost sighed in relief as the voices disappeared, and after a few moments she was able to focus on the files in front of her once more.

Focussing seemed to help, as the voices about the other things she could see/hear/smell disappeared almost entirely, allowing her to begin searching through the documents with remarkable speed.

"Officer… Mari!" The shouting voice in her ear suddenly brought Mari from her zoned in state to find Commander Shepard and Naruto stood next to her, the blonde ninja looking relieved even as he dodged back to avoid her reflexive punch.

"Xeveena has been trying to talk to you for the last ten minutes, but got no response from you, given your 'focussed' state she grew concerned and contacted us. It's good we got you out of that, Joker needs his seat back…" A glance at her Omni-tool told Mari she had lost almost an hour in her focussed state, and she was never more pleased about being a plant rather than an actual Asari as she didn't blush, though judging by Naruto's teasing smirk he could sense her embarrassment even if she wasn't actively displaying it.

_Eyes darting around the cockpit, muscled slightly tensed and knees slightly bent…_

_Smile that doesn't match body language, one hand always near weapons pouch…_

_Nervous about ambush and weakness in Citadel security…_

_Eyes not focussing on me while scanning, other hand relaxed and smile changing slightly as eyes pass me…_

_Happy to see me?_

"She found something?" Mari did the best to ignore the voices in her head, as she separated from Shikamaru's memories once more, the throbbing headache something she could deal with once the focus was off her.

Mari had news of her own to share of course, but it would take quite some time for her to sort it all out in her own head, now that she didn't have Shikamaru's mindset to assist in that process.

"We will worry about that later, when the rest of the crew are back I will brief everyone. Are you okay though? It was almost like you were in a trance. I am sure that Medic Nirali would be available if you are not feeling well." Commander Shepard's concern was a slight surprise, given the Slayer of the Old One had more than enough reasons to dislike her, but after a moment Mari was cognizant enough to shake her head.

"I am fine, I just let my focus get away from me. I will head to the med bay though, I seem to have a bit of a headache…" Naruto's eyebrow gave the slightest of twitches, enough of a reaction to let Mari know that he suspected she wasn't telling them everything, but as she stood a little shakily he merely shifted to allow her past.

Whether that was because Naruto trusted her enough to tell her later, or because of some other reason she couldn't quite fathom, Mari decided she would think about it later, after she had managed to get rid of this blasted headache!

[]{}#%^*+=

**Commander Shepard's Cabin, The Normandy, 20 minutes after end of Dr Heart Op**

**Naruto Uzumaki, 'Alliance Lieutenant' and Spectre's Soldier**

"You are not the one we expected to see Officer Uzumaki… Where is Commander Shepard?"

' _Busy making sure the Normandy is ready for hunting the moment everyone gets back on the ship. But, there's no way I'm telling you that…'_ Looking across the Commander's cabin to where the Communication relay had been set up, Naruto shrugged.

"No idea. But, if I had to guess, I would suppose that she's dealing with the aftermath of what has gotta be the fifth or sixth assassination attempt that has been launched against our team on the Citadel. Got to say the place isn't seeming anywhere near as secure or safe as you guys claim from your ivory tower…" It was probably a little too blasé a crack about the broadcasts the Council had done, in the aftermath of the rocket attack, but Naruto was angry enough that he didn't care about annoying the Council a little more than usual.

Unfortunately, the Councillors seemed to have developed thicker skins since the last time he had gotten into verbal combat with them, as the Turian Councillor's gritted jaw was the only sign his words had any effect.

"The dangers of being a Spectre are well known throughout history, perhaps the Alliance should have looked deeper into that before risking you… I mean their hero in such a manner." Not bad from the Asari Councillor, Naruto could feel his anger rising at the casual disregard of the threats Jane-chan faced, as well as the implying that closeness they shared had been noted and frowned upon by Jane-chan's 'Commanders'.

"That's true, such a position of responsibility always comes with risks, which is usually why they are such respected and well provisioned roles. How is the 'automated' transfer of Ex-Spectre Saren-teme's files to Commander Shepard going by the way?" He could have carried on the taunt, with a jibe about how little time it had taken Saren to get hold of Nihilus' files, but given the flinch from the Asari Councillor it seemed that wouldn't be necessary.

"Enough, we did not contact one of our Spectres for the purpose of getting into a shouting match with one of her lowlife mercenaries. Go and find Commander Shepard, and tell her she is to report to the Council chamber now. She will be remanded in the secure holding facilities at C-Sec, until the C-Sec investigation answer the accusations the Batarian Hegemony have raised about the unlawful murder of their lawful agents…" The Turian obviously enjoyed the opportunity to rub in the fact that officially Naruto was nothing more than a thug, seconded by the Alliance to serve under Shepard as a hired gun.

But as the purpose of their call became clear, Naruto lost the easy-going smirk that had been present for the conversation so far, reaching over the table to press pause on the small voice recorder that Commander Shepard had record  _every_ conversation she had in her quarters. Ignoring the looks and insisting comments from two of the three Councillors, Naruto rewound the recording and played through the Turian Councillor's words once more.

"Huh, and here I thought I'd misheard again." Placing the recorder down once more, after re-pressing the record button of course, Naruto let his face fall into the emotion dampening mask that some of the survivors taught him and the other genin.

"Stop your babbling…" That was as far as the Turian Councillor got, before Naruto slammed his fist into the metal table  _without_  holding back, he'd pay Shepard-taichou for the dent in it later.

"I think you will forgive me for 'babbling' in a few minutes, though that depends how quickly you get it through your close-minded heads that I am preventing a galactic civil war by  **not**  bringing Shepard-taichou here…" For a moment there was complete silence, before the Turian Councillor growled in anger.

Before the Turian could say anything though, the Salarian  _acted_. The frog like alien raised they omni-tool arm and a flash erupted from it, making the Turian's visage disappear from the screen. There was a rather uncharacteristic look of fury on the Salarian's face, as they turned their gaze on the Asari Councillor, who seemed like she wanted to protest.

"Enough, two of you obviously clouded in your opinions regarding Operative Uzumaki, reason unknown. No doubt one of many things Councillor Valern did not transfer when replacement vote succeeded." It was at this point that Naruto felt a little embarrassed beneath his mask, now that he focussed on the Salarian, it was obvious that this wasn't the same Salarian that had been on the Council during the Saren debacle.

Based on the way that the new Salarian had spoken, it was entirely possible that the Saren debacle  _was_  the reason that the position had changed hands.

"Rather than acting like human tadpoles, perhaps better if Operative Uzumaki and I conversed by ourselves. Then, when he has passed on concerns and I evaluate them as threat assessment, he can contact Commander Shepard whilst we convene. Or, perhaps the two of you can act like the professional representatives you are?" Given the sharp look the Salarian sent Naruto's way when he tried to pipe up, it was clear that they had some words to aim in his direction if he did, as the sounds of the Turian Councillor's shouting lessened and then disappeared.

"You have been in this role less than a week Councillor Dezoro, obviously you still need to learn how to act a little more professionally yourself. We do not  _attack_ each other as a method of stopping an argument." Despite the Asari's admonishment, it was clear that she wasn't going to be more difficult about the 'reminder' she had been given already, causing the Salarian to lower their Omni-tool once more.

"Yet, personally attack skilled assassin with known techniques that would make infiltration of Council chambers undetected simple, and with other skills still hidden? Logic dictates such an enemy is best to avoid, ally would be preferred. Good to see you understand my point Councillor Tevos, Councillor Sparatus letting heart rule head again…" From the exasperation in Councillor Dezoro's tone, even if they had only been in the role a week, the Turian Councillor had been a pain in the ass the entire time.

"I am not happy with the situation, and we  _will_  be having words when this is done Councillor Dezoro. But, I have learnt that dismissing Operative Uzumaki lightly is a very dangerous idea, and I will admit I let my desire to get back for his earlier embarrassments get the better of me. I apologise to both of you." The apology was unexpected enough that Naruto let the surprise he felt appear on his face for a moment, though the Salarian waved it off dismissively.

"Words easy, actions much better tell of sincerity. Now, Operative Uzumaki. Elucidate on Galactic war you foresee. Possibility is very real, hint you gave very useful in highlighting reason, but your reasoning important for understanding." The female Salarian, though he couldn't be sure given how similar Salarian's looked to him, ignored the shocked look on Councillor Tevos' face as she gave him the chance to speak.

"Well, there are two possibilities as far as I can see, though the first is the only one I am sure of. Given the desire to effectively imprison Shepard-taichou without a trial on murder charges, despite the fact that the videos of the Batarians launching the ambush against her are already all over the extranet, it would be less than an hour before that got out to the masses." The fact that Naruto would have it spread over the Citadel in less than half that time went unsaid, the Salarian Councillor had already indicated she had been read in on his abilities.

"Given the concerns about anti-human sentiment amongst the Alliance raised during Saren-teme's trial, and the disparity between how you are treating the 'Hero of the Alliance' in comparison to the teme's treatment, there would be riots in the streets. Even if you did manage to suppress them without any deaths, which I doubt, the C-Sec investigation then becomes pointless." To Naruto's surprise, Councillor Dezoro was smiling at his words, while Councillor Tevos was frowning in a manner that made it clear she was trying to mentally refute them.

"You would either have to follow through with charging Shepard-taichou in a show trial that wouldn't be worth the scroll it is recorded on, or to drop the charges. The first would definitely cause the Alliance to break with the Council, if not launch Spec Ops operations to rescue her." Operations that he would be a part of, officially or otherwise.

"Even if we did rescue her without killing anyone, the Batarians would declare war on the Alliance for 'obstructing justice' or some other such bullshit. The Council races would then be drawn in or would have to admit the farce, fully destroying any chance of reconciling with the Alliance for centuries either way. Even if you dropped the charges, the Batarians would retaliate with their 'pirate' fleets attacking every small colony remotely near the Terminus, and the results would be pretty much the same."

It was the extreme scenario of course, cooler heads would probably have prevailed before Jane-chan even made it to the Presidium, but Naruto was done playing nice with these idiots. He had extended the olive branch during Saren's trial, and this conversation was the metaphorical equivalent of setting it alight after covering it in toad oil.

"You certainly have a flair for the dramatic, Operative Uzumaki, you can't think that the Alliance would break with the Council over a singl…" Councillor Tevos was cut off as Councillor Dezoro spoke up.

"Reputed Hero of largest invasion since Human First Contact, First Human Spectre and well publicised savior of at least two human settlements in recent months. That is just top three notable achievements from memory. As pivotal figures in destroying galactic balance go, far more influential than nearly anyone I could list. Commander Shepard is known to nearly every human in the Galaxy, unwise to underestimate importance as figurehead." Naruto had to give credit to the Salarian, as Tevos' face paled a little as the logical argument neatly demolished her own.

"You… have a point, though in my defence Sparatus vastly overstepped himself in his demands. Apologies Operative Uzumaki, the actual reason we wished for Commander Shepard to stay on the Citadel is to respect the procedures set out in the Council mandate regarding Spectres. We made a mistake, not enforcing them with Saren, and I am sure you can understand why we cannot skirt the rules again after that."

It seemed Tevos had changed her view on this matter, though given that was perhaps because she realised how dangerous her previous stance could have been, Naruto didn't feel like relaxing anytime soon.

"Point about anti-human sentiment clear, but not risk hinted at by Operative Uzumaki, at least not obviously." Naruto kept finding his respect for the new Councillor rising, as she caught onto the fact he had been less willing to point out, to the Council at least.

But just because she was currently aligning with him didn't mean she was an ally by any means, and competence was as dangerous in an enemy as it was helpful in a potential friend, something he would have to keep an eye on no doubt. Still, she had left the door open for him, and to not say something now would definitely impact any positive impression she had of him so far.

"The second risk is dependent on two things about the Batarian complaint, the first being whether it is an official complaint? And the second is whether the Councillor used the complaints words verbatim about the ambushers." Even as Naruto spoke, he could see the wheels turning in Councillor Tevos' head.

Despite the fact he saw her and the Turian Councillor as idiots for how they had dealt with Saren, and Jane-chan in general, he doubted you could become one of the Citadel Council by being a complete idiot. A moment later it seemed that she understood what he was implying as she rapidly tapped into her omni-tool for a few moments before shaking her head.

"It is an official complaint, which given that it had only been an hour or so since the attack when we received it means they must have known the attack was going to happen before it did." Given the amount of evidence, and paperwork that had been needed before Jane-chan and the Alliance could launch any action against Saren officially, Naruto wasn't surprised by this revelation.

"But Councillor Sparatus seems to have been taking liberties with his wording again, they state that the dead Batarians are 'innocent Hegemony citizens', nothing about them being agents." Councillor Dezoro chuckled a little morbidly before waving her hand dismissively again.

"Wording still dangerous, Hegemony cannot claim mere pirates or gangsters when murder attempt proved by C-Sec. Indeed, timing of complaint can only show prior knowledge of attempt by Hegemony leadership, at least some of them. Operative Uzumaki is almost certainly correct in his views, premeditated murder attempt on Council Spectre by Batarian Government. More than enough reason for military reprisal if brought to the public, which confining Commander to Citadel certainly would lead to."

"I am assuming, given your antagonistic avoidance of mentioning where Commander Shepard is, that you have a lead of where these attackers came from?" The tangential comment from Councillor Tevos caused Naruto to raise an eyebrow, the limit of showing his surprise that he would let slip through right now.

"And if we did?" Tevos and Dezoro shared a look for several seconds, before for the first time in the conversation they appeared to agree on something.

"If lead leads direct to Batarian space, pass lead onto us. Council must formally announce grievance before Spectres move into Hegemony in force to 'investigate'. Would request delayed departure, until we can organise other Spectres to join you, force in numbers after all." Tevos picked up where Dezoro finished, an uncharacteristically harsh expression on her face.

"Even if the lead is not towards Batarian controlled space, this attempt proves that the Hegemony think that they are untouchable for whatever reason they have concocted in their heads. I will have all of our intelligence gathering efforts focussed on the Batarian 'pirate' operations in the Terminus, and we will pass along ALL the information we already have to you. While we will initiate our own response diplomatically against the Batarians for their arrogance, crippling the Slaving operations in the Terminus will be a good start in convincing them of their error…"

Naruto relaxed his mask completely now, as it seemed that the Council had it's own issues with the Hegemony. While they didn't want a war to erupt, something that Naruto could support given the current situation with Saren and the Reapers, a line was very clearly being drawn now.

"Well in which case Councillors, you better get your spies to work, because if C-Sec's lead pans out we will be going outside of Citadel Space…" That was as much as Naruto was prepared to give regarding the lead, as he didn't know whether the Council were anywhere near as secure as they thought they were.

Given how easily someone like Kasumi had gotten onto the Normandy, Naruto guessed it was probably not much more difficult to infiltrate the private areas of the Council chambers.

"Very well, though full report after lead followed required Operative Uzumaki, then discussion over your relationship with this Council can be mediated in calmer setting. Your powers make you a unique asset, or a powerful enemy if left to fester. As former STG operative, prefer not to make enemies due to extenuating circumstances…" It wasn't a rebuke as such, but it was clear that Councillor Dezoro was judging him as being as part of the problem between him and the Council, rather than just the other Councillors.

"Of course Councillor, I look forward to working more with you in the future." The fact that Naruto actually meant what he said seemed to get across in his tone or his slight bow, as Councillor Tevos' shocked face was the last thing he saw before the connection was cut.

There was a moment of silence, as Naruto let the emotions the rather confrontational conversation had stirred up, before a voice spoke up with unconcealed amusement in it's tone.

"And here I thought your respect for authority figures  _had_  improved Naruto-kun, but perhaps that is just for Jane-san after all…" Given the chaos that was going on everywhere else on the ship, and the fact that Jane had commandeered the infirmary, Naruto had brought Ino through to the Commander's cabin for some peace and quiet.

As much as Ino tried to claim she was okay with the translator, Naruto could tell that she was struggling with adapting to their new circumstances, as much if not more than the difficulties she was having with her leg. Given the Council were pretty much the last people he wanted her introduced to, something she agreed with after explaining their connection to Saren and the Geth, she had stayed near the door and out of sight while they were talking.

"Not you as well Ino-chan, Sakura-chan's going to kill me if she hears stuff like that when we find her…" Naruto wasn't stupid enough to actually try and deny the accusation outright, if there was one person better at sniffing out lies than he was, it was the girl who had helped develop his natural ability with her clans' teachings.

"Forehead will get over it, in fact she…" Ino paused for a second, blushing slightly before shaking her head and speaking once more.

"Never mind, don't think I didn't notice the lack of denial there Naruto-kun. Does our little knucklehead like hot older women now?" Naruto could have tried to press, about whatever it was Ino wasn't telling him about Sakura-chan, but this was the closest to being 'back to normal' as he had seen her.

"N-No idea what you are talking about Ino-chan. Why, are you jealous that I won't be giving you  _all_ my attention…" He didn't exactly have to force the stutter at the start of his response, as he  _did_ have feelings for Jane-chan that he knew were beyond that of friendship.

But his ability to turn Ino's attempt to tease him back on her seemed to throw his fellow blonde off for several moments, a blush crossing her face as he mentally scored a point for himself on the metaphorical board that logged the two's teasing competition.

There was still several dozen more ticks on Ino's side, he noted with a mental sigh, before turning his attention back to Ino as she suddenly smirked. With a single push of her arms, Ino threw herself out of her wheelchair in his direction, Naruto's arms wrapping around her instinctively to steady her.

"I don't think you could handle even half of me Naruto-kun, and I wouldn't want to ruin our  _relationship_  by embarrassing you in bed. Though, if you want to, you are more than welcome to  _try..._ " As she sensually whispered the words into his ear, pulling his chest tightly to her own, Naruto groaned mentally even as he tried to remain composed.

Damn it, another point to her...

!"£$%^&*()_+

**Normandy Command Deck, 12 hours after Batarian Ambush, 1 Hour after Dr Heart Op**

**Nirali Bhatia, Spectre Medical Assistant, Navy Corpsman**

"If any of you have somehow managed to miss it, over the course of the last 48 hours on the Citadel, the Normandy has been infiltrated by Cerberus, and we have been attacked by two different groups of Spec Ops soldiers numbering in their dozens." Commander Shepard was at her most imposing, as she stood in front of the Normandy's gathered crew in her full combat armour, this speech being fed to the Ontario live so that Captain Seratha and her crew were involved as well.

When Naruto had told her husband that the Citadel, or even Alliance space, wasn't as safe as everyone believed, Nirali had thought he was only saying that to persuade the man to stop arguing with her. But when Commander Shepard laid out how dangerous the last couple of days had been, it became clear that Naruto had been somewhat  _optimistic_  about his outlook.

"From these attacks, and the other attempts on the lives of myself and  _my_ crew, we have yet to suffer a permanent casualty. However, this is mostly due to luck and poor planning by our adversaries, and I cannot continue to risk your lives on the chance that Saren keeps sending the same level of useless idiots after us." There were one or two chuckles at the reference to the quality of Saren's would be assassins, but these were mostly from the Spectre's strike team itself.

"The Citadel has proved that it isn't 'safe place for civilised people' that the Council likes to claim it is. And even this dock, which we are temporarily renting from the Alliance, isn't secure enough to prevent 'Alliance' personnel walking in whenever they like." There were a few confused looks around the Normandy's crew at that comment, though Nirali had happened to be 'in the know'.

That morning, despite everything that had happened with the infiltration of the Normandy and the Batarian attack, some Alliance Admiral had decided that it was the perfect time to perform a 'surprise inspection' of the Normandy. The man had demanded Commander Shepard's presence for the entire trip, forgetting or ignoring the fact that the Commander was no longer part of the official Alliance command structure.

The man, Mika...something or other, had been completely shocked therefore when Shepard appeared at the Normandy's airlock in full combat armour. She then proceeded, in a manner that could only be described politely as 'blunt', to tell the Admiral that appeasing his desire for 'a pompous parade to sooth his ego' was at the bottom of her list of priorities not just now but in general.

Though the man seemed to be more than a little annoyed at the disrespectful tone Commander Shepard had used, he surprisingly didn't lose his temper, though it seemed to be a close thing as he stalked away like a wounded predator looking for an easier target to hunt.

"So, thanks to patronage from an source that would prefer to remain unnamed." To her credit, Commander Shepard's eyes didn't even flicker in the direction of the most likely culprit, but that didn't stop the majority of the Normandy's crew from glancing over to the blonde haired man most likely the 'patron' in question.

"A pair of berths will be available for us at the shipyard owned by Shinobi Shipbuilding Co at a very reasonable rate. Though this is based on one of the lower wards rather than the Presidium, they have given us permission to modify the security of the berths to our specifications." That, that was beyond generous, and Nirali would be quizzing Naruto later on exactly how he could afford to be so blase with his finances.

While most most goods were relatively cheap on the Citadel, in comparison to border or Terminus colonies at least, what wasn't cheap was space. Every inch of space on the Citadel was owned by the Council, leased on two year or five year contracts, and something the size of a ship hangar would cost more than Nirali would probably ever earn.

"But first, we have some Batarians to hunt down." Commander Shepard's eyes almost turned into slits at this point, her mouth turning into a slight snarl.

"The bastards who survived attacking me aren't talking, and C-Sec will take too long to interrogate anything out of them as it is. Luckily, Agent Xeveena here managed to use the data supplied by C-Sec's mortician to prove that the majority of the assassins had been on the Citadel for less than two days, which narrowed down our search period for ships arriving and leaving significantly." Commander Shepard gestured and a small transport ship appeared in the Command view screen.

"This ship was found to have not paid its latest docking fees, and the dock manager remembered it being manned by Batarians, which she found unusual, given its original Relay point in the Exodus system. Facial scans confirm that two of the deceased are the ones who claimed ownership of the ship, though their records have already been proven fake." The Exodus system was definitely a surprising location for the ship to have come from, though if they wanted to try and hide any links the Hegemony, going through Alliance Space may have been a good idea.

"We thought this might be a dead end, until Agent Mari raised a terrifying idea of  _why_  the Batarians allowed the leaking of my Sister's location to happen this week. After all, if there is one thing that the Batarians could do to strike at humanity, more than assassinating the Hero of Elysium…" A planet appeared on the screen, and it took a few seconds for Nirali to work out what was being displayed, just in time for the impact event to draw several gasps from around the room.

"Then wiping out the largest non-Sol colony with an asteroid would certainly have an impact…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I knew exactly where I wanted to get too with this chapter, the challenge was getting there while not just jumping to it. There was much needed character development, not just for Shepard's crew but the Council as well, a perfect sign that the Council's actions are not just being accepted by everyone.
> 
> Abbie as a Krogan? I know it was technically done in Andromeda, but I like to think I have put my own little twist on it. The redesign of the Normandy's cargo deck has also needed doing for a while, and I hope the description gives enough of an idea of what I am trying to go for.
> 
> One of the things that was brought up was people wanted Shepard/ Naruto to get a base, probably using one of the various bandit bases you end up attacking in the numerous side quests. It may end up happening at some point, but it is more likely to be a Space station, and financing one of them as a hideout would be expensive. I can justify to myself Naruto being able to buy the leases of the shipyards given that this Normandy crew are taking everything left after fights, including what is screwed down, but space station defences would make that seem like pocket money.
> 
> Between that, and the equipment Naruto is getting from the mercs trying to take down Skull, there is enough money that never officially appears in Shepard's accounts for him to put 10-20 million down on a three or four dock shipyard. It pretty much clears out the 'hidden' kitty the team was building up, as well as the money he has been earning as Skull, but if he can crew the shipyards with some willing Quarians and help with the heavy lifting then it will be worth it in the long term.
> 
> So, we our first mass effect DLC. Matching this up with the assassination attempt not only makes for a lot of action in the next couple of chapters, but the ramifications could be quite interesting to see as well.
> 
> Let me know what you think guys!


End file.
